No riding in the back of a pick-up

Federal standards require occupant compartments of vehicles to be designed to protect occupants during a crash. The beds of pickup trucks are dsigned to carry cargo, not people, and are not designed to provide protection in a crash. Children and adults can be easily ejected from cargo areas at relatively low speeds as a result of a sharp turn to avoid an obstacle or crash.

In 2011 in Canada, 12 people were killed and 313 were injured when they were involved in crashes and were positioned ‘outside the passenger compartment’ of the vehicle (Transport Canada, 2013).

In 2014, 20 states in the United States had no state law regarding restrictions on riding in cargo areas.  In Canada, riding in pickup truck beds is permitted in some jurisdictions and illegal in others. In a number of jurisdictions where riding in the back of a pickup truck is not permitted, exemptions exist for individuals whose work requires them to ride in the back of pickups (American Automobile Association, 2012).

Chu (1999) examined data from the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS ) on children under 15 years of age involved in fatal crashes while riding in the back of pickup trucks in Florida between 1994 and 1997. The crash criteria identified 22 fatal crashes involving 51 children riding in the back of pickup trucks. 12 of the 51 (23.5%) children were killed, 12 (23.5%) suffered incapacitating injuries, and 9 (17.6%) incurred non-incapacitating injuries when they were ejected or fell off the back of pickup trucks. In an effort to provide a sense of magnitude of the problem of children riding in the back of pickup trucks, Chu noted that the number of children killed while riding in the back of pickup trucks in Florida exceeded the number of children killed in school bus crashes during the same period (6), as well as the number of children killed as a result of air bag deployments (8).

A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention (2000) on crashes involving children in pickup trucks found that 48% of occupants fatally injured while riding in the cargo area of pickup trucks were children and adolescents less than 20 years of age. The same study cited research that found that in crashes involving fatalities, cargo area passengers were three times more likely to die than were occupants in the cab. The risk of death for those in the cargo area was eight times higher than restrained cab occupants. The authors of the study indicated that legislation prohibiting travel in the cargo area and the requirements for age-appropriate restraint use and seat selection were the most effective preventative strategies to reduce the risk of death or injuries. The study also indicated that physicians should serve as educators and be strong advocates for more stringent and effective legislation that would prohibit any occupant from travelling in the cargo area of a pickup truck.

Scope of the Problem

• Transport Canada (2013). National Collision Database. Retrieved from http://wwwapps2.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/7/NCDB-BNDC/p.aspx?l=en.
• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (2014). Pickup trucks: Restrictions on riding in cargo areas. Retrieved from http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/cargoareas

Evidence

• American Automobile Association (2012). Digest of Motor Laws: Seat Belts. Retrieved from http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/laws/seat-belts/
• Chu, X. (1999). The Problem of Children Riding in the Back of Pickup Trucks in Florida: A Preliminary Investigation, Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of Florida. Retrieved from http://usf.sobek.ufl.edu/content/SF/S0/03/22/52/00001/C01-00143.pdf
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention (2000). Children in Pickup Trucks,. Pediatrics, Vol. 106 No. 4 October 2000, pp. 857-859. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/106/4/857.full