Salem,OR : Car accidents remain a top cause for children deaths on June, Friday 9th 2017

The most common cause of death in children younger than 15 is unintentional injury, and the most common cause of unintentional injury is car accidents.

Between 2010 and 2014, 2,885 children died in motor vehicle accidents nationwide — an average of 11 children a week.

Most of the children who died were not wearing seat belts — nationwide, 43 percent were unrestrained or improperly restrained. Another 15 percent were sitting inappropriately in the front seat, and 13 percent were riding in cars driven by somebody under the influence of alcohol.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas carried out the analysis, published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

The researchers found considerable variations in children’s deaths from state to state. In New Hampshire, for example, all of the five children who died during the study period were properly belted in. But in Mississippi, 56 of the 99 who died were not wearing seat belts, or were not wearing them properly.

Many factors influence the number of fatalities, and the study could not cover all of them. It was difficult, for example, to determine the exact contribution to the overall risk of death of vehicle type, roadway characteristics, speed limits and red-light cameras.

But at least one thing is clear: Child restraints are effective in preventing injury and death.


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Car accidents remain a top cause for children deaths