Rate of injury comparison across countries?

[clarinetb]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone knew if there was data available that showed differences in rates of injuries in children across different countries and how that correlates with laws/standard practice in terms of car seat usage. I know it is very hard to compare due to differences in types of driving, more or less highways, etc, but it would be interesting if there was.

It came up because I commented about the low limits for turning babies FF in Australia and a response I got was, well, do more children actually get hurt or killed? I know it is often quoted that very few children die in car accidents in Sweden and that is attributed to ERFing.

Anyways, it would be interesting to see some numbers and I think it would be a great talking point for people to see that there are variations in these numbers (I presume there would be varying from FF at around six months to 12 months to 4 years....)

Thanks!

 

[catchthewind]

I would be curious if there are actual numbers somewhere too. I read an article once by Volvo that stated that in a certain time period (can't remember exactly but it was more than a year), there were only 4 deaths of children under 5 in Sweden, compared to 60-70 per year in Canada (which only has three times the population so that's a huge difference). Not sure what the rate is in the US. I can't find that article, but I found this one, which states 9 deaths in rear-facing car seats in a 4 year period: http://www.carseat.se/rearfacing/rear-facing-basics/

 

[clarinetb]

Thanks for posting that.

 

[Admin]

I would be interested even in recent fatality statistics for children killed as occupants in motor vehicle crashes, on a per million vehicle miles travelled basis.

As a side note, I've posted in other threads the numbers of fatalities to children in the USA by 1 year age groups. The numbers actually drop after 12 months, presumably due to many other factors than RF vs. FF. There are just so many variables it is impossible to isolate one or two from fatality statistics overall.

 

[clarinetb]

I would be interested even in recent fatality statistics for children killed as occupants in motor vehicle crashes, on a per million vehicle miles travelled basis.

As a side note, I've posted in other threads the numbers of fatalities to children in the USA by 1 year age groups. The numbers actually drop after 12 months, presumably due to many other factors than RF vs. FF. There are just so many variables it is impossible to isolate one or two from fatality statistics overall.

Yes, definitely complicated stats to look at! They'd need to be across the same age groups and then you'd likely need to just make the assumption that the common practice in that country is across most of the children for that age group...

Just unfortunate there isn't a set of numbers, especially for those less than convinced since the differences in countries would be a way to show that it really does make a difference.

Thanks!

 

[Adventuredad]

Stats available are usually for injures/deaths per 100 000 inhabitants or per 100 000 motor vehicles.