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Child Safety Organization Calls for Coordinated Effort to Combat Pedestrian Deaths

Child Pedestrian Death Rate in South Africa is double the world rate
26 March 2009

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA –A new study conducted by Childsafe, a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, revealed that only a coordinated effort of education, environmental improvements and increased enforcement will be successful in increasing awareness of child pedestrian safety and ultimately lower the death rate.

The organization, also known as Safe Kids South Africa, collaborated with the Medical Research Council to conduct a thorough review of pedestrian safety programs to compile the recommendation. The report was funded by FedEx, the long-standing sponsor of Safe Kids Walk This Way, Safe Kids Worldwide’s pedestrian safety programme and was released today at Childsafe’s annual meeting, held at the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

Pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of death and disability for children around the globe. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 262,000 children die each year from pedestrian injuries. In South Africa alone, 33500 children are injured and 565 die each year. Road traffic injuries are expected to increase by 80 percent in sub-Saharan Africa by the year 2020.

“Parents and children must understand that we have the power to prevent many injuries and injury related deaths before they occur,” said Martin Eichelberger, M.D., the chairman and founder of Safe Kids Worldwide. “The answer is not better hospitals or more doctors. The answer is prevention. By teaching children how to stay safe we can keep them out of harm’s way and out of the emergency room.”

“South African children face a shockingly high rate of pedestrian injury,” said Sebastian van As, president of Childsafe. “This research gives us a blueprint on the steps we must take to protect our children from these senseless deaths and injuries. Only a wide-ranging pedestrian safety programme will help South Africa reduce our injury death rate to a level that is on-par with the world average.”

The study revealed a number of effective and sustainable child pedestrian safety intervention programmes suitable for implementation within South Africa to reduce child injury-risk on the road. The programmes that reported greater success at promoting pedestrian safety used a comprehensive approach to the problem.

Child pedestrians are vulnerable road-users and collisions involving them often result in fatalities or debilitative injuries. Childhood pedestrian fatalities have the highest concentrations in children ages 5 to 14. Nearly 40 percent of these fatalities occur on rural roads, with over five thousand potentially high risk road locations identified in South Africa’s rural and urban settings.

Childsafe/Safe Kids South Africa

Childsafe/Safe Kids South Africa is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent unintentional childhood injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under. Organizations in 19 countries bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families. For more information, please visit www.childsafe.org.za or www.safekids.org.