Road accidents are the leading cause of death and injuries among children all over the world. Every four minutes a child is prematurely killed in a road accident.
More than 186 300 children die every year– that’s more than 500 children every day due to road traffic accidents around the world. Road traffic injury ranks among the top four causes of death for all children over the age of five years.
According to a study titled “Advancing Child Safety in India (ACSI) around 60,000 children die due to road accidents in India every year — more than the total child death rate in war-torn Syria.
Children of all ages can be involved in road accidents. Boys account for nearly twice as many road traffic deaths as girls worldwide. This risk is higher for boys because of greater exposure to traffic, as well as a tendency among boys to take more risks than girls.
The rate of road traffic death among children is 3 times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
Children are more vulnerable to road traffic than adults for a number of reasons:
- For instance, children aren’t pocket-size versions of adults or tall enough to be easily seen by the other road user or to see the surrounding traffic
- The size of children’s heads is bigger than the rest of their bodies; hence they have a higher center of gravity, leading to a greater chance of falling down and head injuries as compared to adults.
- Children have soft heads making them more susceptible to serious head injury than adults. Children have limitations of vision, and sound which makes it difficult for them to judge the size, distance, speed of vehicles or direction from where the sound is coming from.
- Children are impulsive by nature and tend to suddenly run on the road.
Hence, there is a need for focusing special attention and understanding of the special needs of children. This notwithstanding, the road network in many places is constructed without considering the needs of children who use the roads as pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and occupants of vehicles. All these interactions with roads, together with a range of other risk factors associated with childhood, increase the susceptibility of children to road traffic injury.
Also Read: Why are road accidents an everyday affair in India?
Roads are a dangerous place for children and young people. Globally, 21% of road traffic deaths were among children. By the year 2030, road traffic injuries are predicted to be the fifth leading cause of death worldwide and the seventh leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost.
Globally, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among 15–19-year-olds and the second leading cause among 5–14-year-olds. Global road traffic fatality rates increase with age, reflecting the way children of different ages use the road. Children up to the age of nine years are more likely to be accompanied by parents when they travel, either in vehicles or as pedestrians, while older children tend to travel more independently, initially as pedestrians and later as bicyclists, and motorcyclists, and finally drivers. The higher rates of injury among children aged 10 years and over is a result of this increased mobility as well as of their increased tendency to exhibit risk-taking behaviors.
