This study attempts to determine how child pedestrians involved in traffic accidents differ from uninjured children. Questionnaires were completed by a sample of parents whose children had been injured in traffic accidents and by a sample of parents whose children were at a hospital for reasons other than accidents. The total number of subjects was 84. Forty-two injured children aged 5 to 14 were matched by sex and age with 42 uninjured children. Both groups came from a single geographic area, which had been previously identified as a high risk area for traffic accidents (July, 1985). The Mantel-Haenszel odds-ratio method was used to estimate the reletion between different factors and the risk of injury. Children aged 5 to 9 are most likely to be involved in an accident, and boys have twice as many accidents as girls. Accident risk is two times greater for children crossing at a protected crosswalk, and five times greater for children who do not understand traffic safety rules. Children who have an intense and short playing time in the street after school are three times as likely to be involved in an accident as those who play for longer periods. Going alone to school without supervision by an adult increases risk three fold, while absence of supervision after school eleven fold. Accident risk is two and one-half times higher for children whose parents have less than 11 years of school.
Abstract