Male Drivers are Hitting, Killing Most Child Pedestrians, New S...( Rates down 40% for child pedestri...),Health

Rates down 40% for child pedestrian fatalities, but motor vehicle/pedestrian crashes are still second leading injury-related killer of children ages 5-14

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Male drivers are behind the wheel twice as often as female drivers in incidents where a child pedestrian is killed, with 18-year-olds most frequently doing the driving, a new study released by Safe Kids USA shows.

Although pedestrian injury remains the second leading cause of injury-related death to children ages 5-14 -- an average of one child dying per day in crashes with motor vehicles in the last five years -- the total number of children ages 14 and under who are killed as pedestrians decreased by 40 percent from 1995 to 2004. The pedestrian injury rate for children ages 0-14 declined by 29 percent over that same period.

"While we're happy to report that fewer kids are being injured and killed by motor vehicles, we still have a long way to go," said Moira Donahue, pedestrian program manager at Safe Kids USA, and an author of the Latest Trends in Child Pedestrian Safety study. "Clearly some of the safety programs that Safe Kids and other organizations conduct are having an impact, but losing a child a day is too many."

Which children are most vulnerable?

The study showed that boys (60 percent) are more likely than girls (35 percent) to be killed in motor vehicle/ pedestrian crashes. Although there has been significant reduction in the death rate in each age category, children ages 0-4 are at the highest risk. Children aged 5-9 had the most significant decline (34 percent) in death rates from 1999-2004.

Male, American Indian and Alaskan native, and black children have disproportionately higher rates of pedestrian death and injury, while female, white and Asian children have the lowest rates of any demographic.

"Children who are at a higher risk of being injured or killed as pedestrians are more likely to live in
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