Non‐traffic child pedestrian injuries

Abstract

All non-traffic child pedestrian deaths and injuries resulting in hospitalization in the Auckland region over a 5 year period were identified from coroner's and hospital records. There were eight deaths (0.77/100,000 children per year) and 91 hospital admissions (8.7/100,000 children per year). Close to half (48%) of the non-traffic pedestrian injury admissions had been misclassified as traffic pedestrian injuries. Eighty-seven per cent of the non-traffic pedestrian injury deaths and 93% of the injuries occurred in residential driveways, most often involving a child run over by a reversing vehicle. Further studies are required to determine the most effective strategies for the prevention of non-traffic child pedestrian injuries.

Characteristics of low-speed vehicle run-over events in children: an 11-year review

“…Almost 10% of LSVRO events involved indigenous children, but only 4.78% of the Queensland paediatric population is indigenous 33. This is consistent with previous studies conducted in New Zealand10–13 which highlighted the over-representation of Maori and Pacific Islanders in children who sustained injuries from LSVRO events.…”

“…They were first documented in 19642 and sporadically reported since then in Australia, the UK,3 USA,4–7 Brazil,8 Austria,9 and New Zealand 10–13. LSVROs are a significant cause of transport pedestrian fatalities in young children, and are the second most frequent cause of death due to unintentional injury among children aged 1–4 years in Australia 1.…”

“…Emergency department (ED) and hospital admissions data were accessed in a study which used data from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP),23 but the results are not generalisable because not all Canadian EDs and hospitals participate in the injury surveillance programme. Three studies from Auckland, New Zealand,12 13 10 included fatal and non-fatal incidents, however, the study area was restricted to events within Auckland (the largest city in New Zealand) only, so results were not generalisable to non-metropolitan regions. Additionally, studies have limited their focus to LSVROs that involved a reversing vehicle,9 20 23 or that were location-specific (eg, driveway7).…”

“…Potential risk factors identified in previous literature12 13 17 19 27 28 include: culture; geographical location (metropolitan/rural/remote); incident location (eg, driveway, car park, beach); dwelling design, demographic factors (socioeconomic status, gender, age, family composition, etc), supervision; driver of the vehicle; vehicle size and design. More comprehensive data about the injury event itself are required—that is, the number and types of injuries, and the severity of injury.…”

Violent deaths in small children in northern Sweden

“…Reversing vehicles were a risk factor which has also been described by others (31,32). Warning sound and a monitor allowing a driver to see what is behind the vehicle, are examples of preventive actions introduced in commercial vehicles during the last decade.…”