Kids Dart. Drive Smart.

Back to school increases child pedestrian injuries

When Indiana weather warms up in the spring, emergency departments and trauma units see a dramatic spike in childhood injuries. As the summer progresses, the number of injuries, while remaining high, decreases in number from the spring. However, few people realize that the fall "Back to School" season also results in a significant increase in children injured as pedestrians or bicyclists. There are a variety of factors that may contribute to this:

• When children walk or ride to school, they often become distracted as they socialize with friends, think about the school day and get used to new routines.
• After school, after being inside all day, children may dash outside to enjoy the warm weather and remaining sunlight.
• There is more traffic in and around schools as children walk or ride bikes, adults drive in the area to drop off their children or go to work, and buses transport children.

How many children are injured?

From 1999-2004, there were 4,950 pedestrian fatalities among children 17 years of age and younger in the United States (CDC WISQARS Database). Indiana children accounted for 94 of these deaths.

Deaths only tell part of the story, however. It is estimated that in 2005, more than 46,000 children were injured as pedestrians. There has been a steady decline in pedestrian fatalities; however, this may be due more to the decline in the number of children walking than other factors such as safety education programs or environmental changes.

It is difficult to know how many children in Indiana required medical treatment for injuries sustained as a pedestrian since this data is not uniformly collected throughout the state. From 1999-2005, Clarian hospitals, including Riley Hospital for Children, treated 693 children younger than 18 years of age for pedestrian injuries. As seen nationally, more males (62 percent) were treated for pedestrian injuries than females. Nationally, children age 5-9 years sustain the highest percentage of injuries. At Clarian, however, both 5-9 year olds (32 percent) and 10-14 year olds (33 percent) were equally represented.

Toddlers are most likely to be injured in "backover" injuries. These occur when a child is struck by a car backing out of the driveway. A common situation is when the child, who may have followed a family member out of the house, runs behind the car. The child believes that the driver can see him—after all, the child can see the car.

Most pedestrian injuries in children age 3-9 occur when children “dart out” mid-block, sometimes from between parked cars. While 10- to 17-year-old children and teens have better traffic crossing skills, they are also more likely to be injured on busier streets.

*Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centers for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. (2005) {cited 2007 July 19}. Available from: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars

For more information

Please visit www.KidsDart.org.