PEDIATRICS Vol. 64 No. 6 December 1979, pp. 968-969
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Love, Logic, and Other Approaches to Prevention

Barbara Starfield MD, MPH1

1 The Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health, Division of Health Care Organization, Baltimore

Baker's1 on accidents to passengers in motor vehicles inform us that infants, particularly young infants, are at greatest risk of death. Most pediatricians would have guessed otherwise, knowing that toddlers' newly acquired locomotion skills, independence, and inquisitiveness generally make them the most vulnerable target. Why, in this case, is the youngest most likely to suffer?

It is possible that young infants are at greatest risk because they are passengers in cars more often than older children, but Baker1 cites evidence that they are actually less likely to travel in cars than older children. This means that the youngest, exposure for exposure, are even more at risk, probably because they are more vulnerable anatomically and because they are held in arms rather than in proper infant carriers.