A study by the Road Safety Authority has shown a dramatic drop in injuries and fatalities among children involved in road traffic accidents.
The study compared with results from two time frames, 1996-2000 and 2004-2008. The study also assessed RTA injuries in children under 15 years old.
There was a 36% drop in the number of children killed or injured, representing a reduction from 5,928 to 3,659.
In terms of car passenger death, there was also a reduction from 69 to 44. However, the authors found that an unacceptably large number of children continued to travel in the front seat of vehicles and the rate of children who were restrained was less than 70%.
In total, there were 1,232 child pedestrian injuries from 2004-2008. This represented 34% of the overall injury toll to children. Of these, 2%/ or 32 were fatal and 129 were considered to be serious injuries.
