Kids are not buckled up, not riding in the back, not using car seats, and on and on. You guys. Here are the rules, again.

Desmond Boylan/Reuters

PROBLEM: Being that the leading cause of death in children over the age of three is motor vehicle collisions, parents should do everything possible to get their kids to buckle up and to keep smaller children from sitting in the deathtrap otherwise known as the front seat. But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Guidelines for Child Passenger Safety, last revised in 2011, are a lot more specific than that. They stipulate the appropriate age and weight at which children can begin to move up the graduated steps from rear-facing car seat to a front-facing and then booster seat. With these safety ideals in mind, this study looked at the reality on the road.

METHODOLOGY: This study was a secondary analysis of three years of data collected the old-fashioned way: Researchers hit the streets and accosted cars with child passengers as they pulled into gas stations, fast-food chains, recreation centers, and child care centers. As data provided by parents of their children's weight was judged unreliable, age was used as the main indicator of whether children were appropriately restrained. 21,476 children aged 13 and under were included in the analysis.

RESULTS: Predictably, as children got older (and more aware of/able to vocalize what's "cool"), they were less likely to use safety restraints and more likely to move to the front seat. Overall, high proportions of children were either not wearing seatbelts or restrained inappropriately.