Study Finds Children Are Most Likely To Be Hit By Motor Vehicles In The Spring Time

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New research has identified when and where child pedestrians are most likely to be struck by another vehicle. According to research presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, motor vehicle accidents involving children pedestrians are most likely to occur while children are unsupervised, near schools and bus stops, and in the spring months during the afternoon and evening hours.
The study looked at electronic medical records of 100 child pedestrian emergency department visits at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia from January 1 to December 21, 2012. Most of the injuries occurred “around the time of school dismissal and during evening hours: 29 percent of injuries occurred between 2 and 5 p.m., and 42 % between 5 and 9 p.m.” Notably, June had the greatest percentage of injuries with 13%, followed by other spring months.slow children at play road sign
What’s more, most of the injuries occurred near schools and public bus stops used by students for transportation to and from school. Not all of the accidents had enough information to identify where the accident occurred. Of the accidents with enough information, 70% involved collision mid-block, 18% occurred at a crosswalk, and 9% happened on private property, a sidewalk or in a parking lot.
According to one doctor, the research is important because “knowledge of the high-risk injuries in this subset of patients can help the trauma team to prioritize patient evaluations, which is especially important in complicated cases involving multiple injuries.”

Pedestrian Accidents in South Carolina

One news outlet in South Carolina, WMBF News, checked to confirm whether the statistics contained in the Philadelphia study are consistent with what happens in South Carolina. According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, in just the past four years, more than 200 children have been injured by motor vehicles while walking. On just state roads, not including neighborhood roads, an average of 56 child pedestrians are injured each year, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
For kids between the ages of 4 and 14, the top months for injuries involving motor vehicles were March, April, May, August, and October. And the top two months for pedestrian accidents involving children were October and August and not the spring months. Two reasons for the increase in number of child pedestrian accidents during this month is Halloween and the beginning of school, according to one South Carolina Highway Patrol trooper. More often than not, these types of accidents occur because a driver failed to obey a traffic law or failed to pay attention to the road.

Contact a Greenville Pedestrian Accident Attorney

If you or someone you know is involved in a pedestrian accident, David R. Price, Jr. is an experienced Greenville personal injury attorney who can help protect your rights. Contact David R. Price, Jr. for a free initial consultation and case evaluation. You can call us at 864-271-2636 or visit our office located at 318 West Stone Avenue in Greenville, South Carolina.

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