Causes and prevention trends of traffic injuries to urban children and adolescents

Abstract

Problem under study: Injuries are the greatest health problem facing children and adolescents in the western world and in developing countries too. Road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for all injuries among Lithuanian children and adolescents. Traffic - related injuries are particularly actual in developing countries and is a result of industrialization, motorization and urbanization proceed. the majority of traffic injuries in developing countries involve pedestrians, car passengers, cyclists (motor or pedal) and other public service vehicles. Factors contributing to the unsafe road environment in recourse - constrained settings include the mixture of motorized and non - motorized transport on the roads, inadequate public transport networks, insufficient road illumination and sing posting, poor road development and maintenance and undisciplined behavior at the roads. The higher density and higher pedestrian to vehicle ration in proliferating urban centers suggest that the emphasis for preventive efforts should emphasize transport planning and road desing such as separating vehicles from pedestrians which may protect road participators. Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify causes of road traffic injuries among urban children and propose prevention trends. Method: A retrospective study was carried out of 541 injured children ages from 1 through 18 years during 5 - years period (1996-2000) in Kaunas, second biggest town of Lithuania. Data were abtained from reports of Kaunas Traffic Police Department. The cases were analyzed by sex, age, by season, week day, time of day, category of victims, localization of the town and cause of injuries. The analysis of data was made by SPSS package.