By REBECCA WALSH
New Zealand has one of the worst fatal accident rates for children in the developed world, with an average of two children dying a week, a Dunedin study has found.
Car crashes are the main cause, followed by drowning and suffocation.
Suicide, which was not counted as unintentional, is a
significant cause of death in early adolescents.
The study, by the Injury Prevention Research Unit at Otago University, studied child deaths between 1986 and 1995, and found that accidental injuries killed more children than the next four causes of death combined.
In the period surveyed, there were 1165 accidental deaths. Car crashes killed 516 children including those who were pedestrians and cyclists.
Researcher Kyp Kypri said not only was New Zealand's child death rate from car accidents considerably higher than other countries, the overall accidental death rate was also one of the worst.
Research on the injury mortality rate for children and adolescents up to 19 showed that New Zealand's death rate was higher than that of eight other countries.
The rate per head of population was double that of Australia and triple that of England and Wales.
Mr Kypri believed that the high child injury mortality rate could be attributed to the large number of motor vehicle deaths and New Zealand's dependence on vehicles.
In other countries, people relied more on public transport.
Mr Kypri suggested that reducing traffic volumes, lowering speed limits and introducing traffic calming measures such as speed humps would help prevent accidents.
He pointed to Britain, where 30 km/h limits operate in many suburban areas.
Mr Kypri said the negative attitude of local authorities, Transit New Zealand and motorists to speed humps was one example of the "lacklustre approach to our child death rates."
"We have to make a choice. Are we going to try and tackle the injury problem or not?"
The study, paid for by the Health Research Council, found that children between 1 and 4 were most at risk of being hit by a car.
Eighty-two in this age group were killed in the survey period.
A further 39 died off the road - most were run over in a driveway by a relative or family friend.
More than 250 child passengers were killed in crashes and many of them were not restrained.
Drowning was the second most common cause of death for children 1 to 4, and half of these happened in private pools and spa baths.
One child drowned every three weeks, with 185 deaths in the survey period.
The release of the study coincides with Kidsafe Week 2000, which aims to reduce unintentional injuries to children.
Associate Accident Insurance Minister Ruth Dyson said the survey results were appalling but not surprising given the "years of neglect" of New Zealand's roads by previous Governments.
She said the Coalition Government was now tackling the issue on two fronts - through a road safety strategy committee and by supporting education and safety programmes such as Kidsafe Week and the promotion of child restraints.
Transport Minister Mark Gosche said the new road transport strategy focused on safety issues and its recommendations included a strong community-based focus.
It suggested reducing traffic speed through options such as traffic islands and speed humps.
Mr Gosche said there was also a move to try to reduce the number of people using private vehicles by increasing grants for passenger transport.
By REBECCA WALSH
New Zealand has one of the worst fatal accident rates for children in the developed world, with an average of two children dying a week, a Dunedin study has found.
Car crashes are the main cause, followed by drowning and suffocation.
Suicide, which was not counted as unintentional, is a
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.