Children who are killed in car accidents involving a drunk driver are more likely to be riding in the car with the impaired driver, a Northwestern researcher’s study concluded.

In a study published online Monday, Dr. Kyran Quinlan, a Feinberg professor and pediatrician at the Erie Family Health Center, said between 2001 and 2010 the number of child deaths occurring in a car with an alcohol-impaired driver decreased by 41 percent, but of all alcohol-related child deaths in car accidents, 65 percent of children were riding with the impaired driver.

“I think a lot of people probably think, well, there’s a family that’s out going to dinner or something, and they’re in their car with the whole family and then there’s a drunk driver going some opposite direction and crashes into them, maybe runs a red light and then hits their car,” Quinlan said. “It’s a horrific accident and a child dies, but what this research is showing is that conception is just not the way that it usually happens.”

Quinlan co-authored the study with Ruth Shult and Rose Rudd, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rudd, the statistician for the study, said the study used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and counted children under the age of 15. Rudd said they found 2,344 children were killed in a crash involving at least one drunk driver over the course of the 10-year period.

Quinlan, Shults and Rudd analyzed the data by state, and Quinlan said California and Texas had the highest number of deaths, while South Dakota and New Mexico had the highest per-capita death rate.

Quinlan said several states have effective policies for reducing alcohol-related crashes, specifically citing ignition interlock devices, which prevent drivers with high blood alcohol concentrations from starting a car, and child endangerment laws.

“We do know from research that there are effective policies that have been successful,” he said. “There are some that are general deterrent measures that just get at drinking and driving in general.”

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for children in the U.S., Quinlan said, and 20 percent of those crashes involve alcohol-impaired drivers. In crashes fatal to children involving an impaired driver, one-third of drivers did not have a valid driver’s license, according to the study.

Erin Sauber-Schatz, an epidemiologist and head of the Transportation Safety Team at the CDC, said the study highlighted the need for seat belt and carseat use, as a child was unrestrained in 61 percent of the cases in the study.

“Another finding of this study was that as blood alcohol concentration increases, the use of restraints for child passengers decreases,” Sauber-Schatz said. “Also, as the age of a child passenger increases, the restraint use decreases.”

The study will also be published in the June issue of the journal “Pediatrics.”

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