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Exposure to traffic among urban children injured as pedestrians
J C Posner1, E Liao, F K Winston
1Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104, USA. posner@email.chop.edu
Insights
Urban children face significant traffic exposure during routine play and street crossing, leading to pedestrian crashes. This high exposure affects children regardless of their activity before the incident, highlighting a critical public health concern.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric emergency medicine
- Traffic safety research
- Public health
Background:
- Urban children experience frequent traffic exposure through play and street crossing.
- Understanding pre-crash activities is crucial for preventing pedestrian injuries in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the pre-crash activities and routine traffic exposure of urban children involved in pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions.
- To compare traffic exposure between children struck while playing versus those struck while crossing streets.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was conducted.
- Data collected from 139 children (ages 4-15) treated for pedestrian-motor vehicle collision injuries.
- Assessed outdoor play habits, street crossing frequency, and pre-crash circumstances.
Main Results:
- 39% of children played in streets, and 64% used sidewalks for play.
- Children crossed streets a median of 27 times weekly.
- No significant difference in traffic exposure was found between children hit while playing (29%) versus walking (71%).
Conclusions:
- Urban children exhibit high traffic exposure from diverse routine activities.
- Traffic exposure levels were consistently high across the study sample, irrespective of the immediate pre-crash activity.
- Future injury prevention programs must address the widespread nature of children's traffic exposure during daily activities.
Objectives:
To explore the immediate pre-crash activities and the routine traffic exposure (street crossing and play) in a sample of urban children struck by automobiles. In particular, the traffic exposure of children who were struck while playing was compared with that of those struck while crossing streets.
Design:
Cross sectional survey.
Setting:
Urban pediatric emergency department.
Patients:
A total of 139 children ages 4-15 years evaluated for acute injuries resulting from pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions during a 14 month period.
Main Outcome Measures:
Sites of outdoor play, daily time in outdoor play, weekly number of street crossings, pre-crash circumstance (play v walking).
Results:
Altogether 39% of the children routinely used the street and 64% routinely used the sidewalks as play areas. The median number of street crossings per week per child was 27. There were no differences in exposures for the 29% who were hit while playing compared with the 71% who were hit while walking. Although 84% of the children walked to or from school at least one day per week, only 15% of the children were struck while on the school walking trip. The remainder were injured either while playing outdoors or while walking to other places.
Conclusions:
Urban children who are victims of pedestrian crashes have a high level of traffic exposure from a variety of circumstances related to their routine outdoor playing and street crossing activities. The distributions of traffic exposures were similar across the sample, indicating that the sample as a whole had high traffic exposure, regardless of the children's activity preceding the crash. Future pedestrian injury programs should address the pervasive nature of children's exposure to traffic during their routine outdoor activities.
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