The present study reports a 5-year national analysis of crash deaths involving cars, vans, or trucks driven by children younger than 15 years and occurring on public-access roadways. The data were drawn from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Between 1996 and the end of 2000, there were 378 fatal crashes involving the vehicles mentioned driven by children aged 14 years or younger. In these crashes, a total of 436 persons died, including 179 young drivers and 86 other children ranging in age from 2 through 14 years. The remaining 171 individuals killed were aged 15 through 86 years, most of whom were teenagers and young adults. Crashes were not evenly distributed among the states. The largest numbers of fatal crashes occurred in Texas (45), California (26), Georgia (21), and Florida (20). A different picture emerges when crash rates are calculated. Five-year rates per 10,000 children were highest in South Dakota (1.7), North Dakota (1.0), Montana (0.7), Wyoming (0.6), and Kansas (0.5). Just over 60% of all crashes occurred on rural roads. The study is limited both by its reliance on the accuracy and completeness of FARS data and also by the restriction of FARS data to crashes occurring on public-access roadways.
Samenvatting