Young children stand a better possibility of avoiding death in a serious car crash if they're secured in a car seat rather than buckled in a seat belt, according to a new US study.

Researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that children among the ages of 2 and 6 were 28% less likely to be killed in a crash if they were sitting in the back in either a car seat or booster seat instead of in a seat belt. Even when bearing in mind 'gross misuse' - such as cases where the child seat was not friendly to the vehicle's seat or the child wasn't wearing the seat's harness - the risk of death was reduced by 21%.

The researchers for this study look at government data from 1998-2003 for virtually 9,000 children between the ages of 2-6 who were concerned in serious automobile crashes.