Motor Vehicle Injury

Motor vehicle crashes are by far the leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths for children ages 14 and under. Severe and serious non-fatal injuries, primarily brain and spinal cord injuries and facial disfigurement, have devastating effects on the child, the family, the community and society as a whole.
Source: National SAFE KIDS Campaign®

In 2002, there were 75 motor vehicle collision fatalities and 477 serious injuries requiring hospitalization to Canadian children ages 5 to 14.
Source: Transport Canada, Traffic Accident Information Database

School buses transport almost three million Canadian children each day of the school year. Children are 16 times safer riding in a school bus than in a passenger vehicle. Most injuries happen outside the bus which is why it is so important for children to learn and practise safe school bus behaviours.
Source: Canada Safety Council website

Information from all types of school bus collisions demonstrates that the current school bus design provides a high level of protection to occupants. Based on its research analysis, Transport Canada has determined that seat belts may actually adversely affect the safety of children on school buses.
Source: Transport Canada website, School Buses and Seat Belts

According to the CHIRPP* database, May 1995 (representing 16 hospitals across Canada, mostly in urban centres), of 356 injuries associated with school buses, the most common (48%) were among children 10 to 14 years of age and 56% of these injuries were sustained by boys. Eighteen percent of the injuries occurred while students were entering or exiting the bus. Horseplay (inappropriate activity and fighting combined) accounted for 24%. Two patients were injured on school buses when they were jumped on or pushed by other children on the bus.
*CHIRPP (The Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program) is a surveillance database collecting information on circumstance and outcome of injuries treated in the emergency departments of all 10 pediatric hospitals and 6 general hospitals across Canada

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the number of ATV-related hospitalizations increased by almost 50% between 1996-1997 and 2000-2001 (1,693 to 2,535 hospitalizations). More than 1⁄3 of all ATV-related injuries were to children and youth between the ages of five and 19.
Source: Canada Safety Council website