Editor,—Drawstrings on children’s clothing are a hidden hazard that can lead to death and injury when they catch on cribs, playground equipment, vehicles, and escalators.1-3Although rare, 17 deaths and 42 non-fatal accidents involving the entanglement of drawstrings on children’s outerwear were reported from 1985–95 in the United States. At least 12 of these incidents involved the entanglement of drawstrings in the doors of school buses.4 The recent unrelated deaths of two young boys in Ireland, following entanglement of part of their outercoats in the door of a school bus5 and rotating powershaft of a tractor,6 prompted us to evaluate the safety of children’s outerwear.

We evaluated the safety of different designs of children’s winter outerwear …