Navigating roads is a challenge for cyclists and pedestrians – both the very old and young are particularly vulnerable. There are ways to make roads safer for children:
“such as traffic calming methods like speed bumps to slow vehicle speed, creating mechanisms to separate pedal cyclists from vehicles, such as cycle pathways, and increasing a child’s road safety knowledge and traffic skills.”
There are ways to reduce injuries in kids that don’t involve wrapping them in cotton wool, The Conversation, 16/6/2017
Wearing a helmet helps, too, protecting the young cyclist from both head and facial injuries.
“Road transport injuries were most common for children aged 11-16 years (17.8%) compared to those aged 6-10 years (12.3%) and those aged less than five years (4.5%).”
There are ways to reduce injuries in kids that don’t involve wrapping them in cotton wool, The Conversation, 16/6/2017
Investment in cycling infrastructure is justified in cost-benefit studies on health benefits. It makes sense with hospital costs of $130 million alone just for children between 2002 to 2012.
Injuries to children
“There are ways to reduce injuries in kids that don’t involve wrapping them in cotton wool” (The Conversation, 16/6/2017) is about a study of children’s injuries. Transport injuries make up 13.7% of all injuries and cycling injuries for children is the most common cause.
“The authors looked at data from 2002-2012 where there were over 680,000 injury-related hospitalisations for kids (aged under 16) across Australia, caused mostly by falls and transport-related injuries.”
There are ways to reduce injuries in kids that don’t involve wrapping them in cotton wool, The Conversation, 16/6/2017
There were 37,382 injuries to children under 16 years of age between 2002-2012 with a total hospital costs of $130 million.
“Pedal cyclists ($131 million) and motor vehicle occupants ($126million) represented the costliest type of transport incidents for children.”
There are ways to reduce injuries in kids that don’t involve wrapping them in cotton wool, The Conversation, 16/6/2017
We do not want to be injured cycling or see our loved ones injured, particularly our children. This would seem to be the best argument for improving cycling infrastructure but there has been historically little funding for bike paths in the ACT – and neither has there been a public community push for them! Silence prevails.
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