Walking, Cycling and Transport Safety: An Analysis of Child Road Deaths

This article reports on a study undertaken to examine trends in road death rates for child pedestrians, cyclists and car occupants (aged 0 to 14 years) in England and Wales between 1985 and 2003. The authors established the death rates per 100,000 children and per 10 million child passenger miles for pedestrians, cyclists and car occupants. Results showed that death rates per population have declined for child pedestrians, cyclists and car occupants. Pedestrian death rates remain higher (0.55 deaths/100,000 children) than those for car occupants (0.34 deaths/100,000 children) and cyclists (0.16 deaths/100,000 children). The authors explore the average distances that children travel as another variable to be considered. Since 1985, the average distance children traveled as a car occupant has increased by 70%; the average distance walked has declined by 19%; and the average distance cycled has declined by 58%. Considering distance traveled as a factor, there are about 50 times more child cyclist deaths and nearly 30 times more child pedestrian deaths than there are deaths to child car occupants. The authors also consider socioeconomic factors, specifically access to an automobile. For example, in 2003, children from families without access to a vehicle walked twice the distance walked by children in families with access to two or more vehicles. The authors conclude that more needs to be done to reduce the traffic injury death rates for child pedestrians and cyclists. This might have the secondary benefit of encouraging more walking and cycling and also has the potential to reduce social class gradients in injury mortality.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01410768
• Authors:
  • Sonkin, Beth
  • Edwards, Phil
  • Roberts, Ian
  • Green, Judith
• Publication Date: 2006-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 402-405
• Serial:
  • Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
  • Volume: 99
  • Issue Number: 8
  • Publisher: Royal Society of Medicine Press
  • ISSN: 0141-0768

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Children; Crash injuries; Crashes; Cyclists; Epidemiology; Fatalities; Passengers; Pedestrians; Promotion; Risk assessment; Socioeconomic factors; Trip length; Vehicle occupants; Walking
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Passenger Transportation; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I10: Economics and Administration; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01046710
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 15 2007 8:54AM