Child fatalities still worrying as road deaths fall

By Christopher Serju

While the preliminary figures for last year show a reduction of 39 in the number of persons killed in traffic crashes when compared to 2006, the number of child fatalities still continues to be cause for concern.

Some 332 persons were killed in or as a result of the 284 fatal traffic crashes reported for 2007. Corporal Beverly Hill-Wright of the Traffic Analysis Unit in the Police Traffic Division noted that these numbers could however change, given that some reports could still be outstanding. She also explained that persons hospitalised as a result of traffic crashes could succumb to their injuries, thereby affecting the final count.

With 371 traffic fatalities from 315 fatal traffic crashes in 2006, there is no denying that significant gains have been made – whatever the final count. However, the 28 children killed on the roads last year is just one less than the 29 killed the year before. While the 16 pedestrians killed last year represent an appreciable percentage decline over the 23 who died in 2006, it still suggests that we are still not getting it right in this vital area – where the children’s lives are for the most part in their own hands.

It is noteworthy that even as the Road Safety Unit in the Transport Ministry was reporting a 22 per cent reduction in the number of children killed on the nation’s road for the first eight months of last year, its Director was voicing his concerns for children in the five to nine age group. Paul Clemetson was particularly concerned about the inadequacy of parents to teach their children about the basic road usage techniques.

“As parents seek to expose their children to traffic, they should ensure that they are prepared. If we do not prepare them, then we are negligent as parents and guardians, and we are exposing them to an environment that can result in their deaths,” he said then.

Clemetson also called on parents to take their children, especially those who walk to school, several times to and from school, before allowing them to do so by themselves.
The need for ongoing reinforcement is supported by research conducted in Europe which shows that children under the age of eight have difficulty grasping the many and varied concepts associated with road usage. The School Safety programme conducted by the Police Traffic Division has changed gear in a bid to address this reality.

“The programme is going very well. Recently we redesigned some of the programmes making them more contemporary. We are going to using more multi-media. We stopped using videocassettes, we are going to cds and multimedia projector because that is the better way to go. We are also changing the graphics and putting in new things,” SSP Ealan Powell, head of the Police Traffic Division told Wheels.

He went on to explain that the Division is also developing a programme for adults which it hopes to use in Service Clubs and at tertiary institutions. “That is one of the things that we working on right now…developing that programme because the programme for the junior wouldn’t fit the adults so we working on that one,” according to SSP Powell.

Meanwhile, Mr. Clemetson also appealed to parents and guardians to ensure that there are proper child restraint mechanisms in their vehicles, as “many children are killed as passengers in private motor vehicles.”

It is significant that none of the children killed last year were traveling in private motorcars. Four were passengers in PPV (Public Passenger Vehicles) while another four were traveling in CMC (Commercial Motor Cars). There were also no child fatalities reported in this category the year before.

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