Complacency, misdirection, and effective prevention of children's injuries.

Injuries are the leading killer of children in the United States, yet most parents, communities, and legislatures remain uncommitted to effective injury prevention. Possible reasons for this complacency are described, and effective methods, likely targets, and useful tactics for prevention are reviewed. The greatest challenges to injury preventionists are to persuade those who remain uninformed concerning the importance of injury prevention, to redirect those efforts currently devoted to ineffective interventions, to continue to evaluate and implement effective preventive interventions, and to search for improved prevention strategies.