In 19 states, children in this age group can ride unrestrained in the back seat of a motor vehicle.

The answer, it turns out, is this: Compared with a child's riding completely unrestrained.

Yet half of the children under 5 who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2000 were riding unrestrained.

In 1990, 624 children under 5 were killed in motor-vehicle crashes, 70 percent of them riding unrestrained.

Gail Atwater allowed herself and her young children to ride unrestrained in a vehicle traveling 15 miles per hour.

Absolutely never carry a child in your lap while you ride in a car or allow a child to ride unrestrained.

New Jersey law allows children 18 months and older to ride unrestrained in the back seat and allows adults to hold children on their laps when a car is crowded.

Riding unrestrained, the agency said, is the greatest risk factor for children.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says 60 percent of those fatalities involve children who ride unrestrained.

EACH day thousands of people who buckle up in private cars, slip into taxis, where they ride unrestrained, trusting life and limb to fate.