Childhood pedestrian injuries: what can changes to the road environment achieve?

With the lack of any significant reduction in the mortality rates from pedestrian injury in Western Australia over the past decade, the need for efficacious prevention strategies is paramount. Using data from a case-control study of childhood pedestrian injuries, this study considered the effect on public health of an environmental initiative for prevention. Population-attributable risk proportions were calculated for the variables 'volume of traffic' and 'visual obstacles', which were found to predict the likelihood of pedestrian injury. The results suggest that 41 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval (CI) 13 to 62) of childhood pedestrian injuries can be attributed to volumes of traffic in excess of 10,000 vehicles per week, and 20 per cent (CI 11 to 48) of injuries can be attributed to visual obstacles on the street verge. It was also estimated that childhood pedestrian injuries could be reduced by up to 30 per cent if children's exposure to roads with volumes of traffic exceeding 10,000 vehicles per week, could be reduced to 15 per cent or less. Similarly, a reduction of up to 8 per cent could occur if visual obstacles on the roadside were reduced to 15 per cent. Changes to the road environment have potential to prevent injury to children.