Plunket's Sandy Waugh wants more education for parents.
Plunket's Sandy Waugh wants more education for parents.
Nine children in the Bay of Plenty were killed in car crashes over a four-year period, making it the leading cause of injury-related death among children in the region, a new report shows.
The Bay of Plenty had the third highest number of children killed as a result of crashes after Counties Manukau with 11 and Hawke's Bay with 10, according to statistics released this week by Safekids Aotearoa.
A total of 34 children aged 14 and under died of injury related causes between 2006 and 2010 - the period surveyed. Of those, nine incorrectly restrained children died because of injuries sustained in car crashes.
Another five children died because of an unintentional injury, six died of suffocation, and fewer than five died from drowning, cycling or other means of land transport.
In April, a Plunket sting on child restraints in the Western Bay found faults in more than half of the vehicles checked. Plunket staff described the results as "frightening".
Director of Safekids Aotearoa, Ann Weaver, said the Bay differed from the rest of the country because crashes were the leading cause of child fatalities.
"I think there needs to be a real emphasis on ensuring children have a seat and that it is correctly installed," Ms Weaver said.
Ms Weaver called for the Bay of Plenty District Health Board to have prevention programmes focused on the leading causes of child injuries that resulted in deaths.
"We're really encouraging DHBs to concentrate on their home-visiting programmes, to ensure that the people involved in those programmes who are meeting parents face-to-face have some injury prevention messaging to discuss with whanau in their own homes."
Sandy Waugh, Plunket's Bay of Plenty/Lakes car seat services manager, said children over 5 who died in the statistic period would have now been required to travel in a booster seat.
As of November 2013, all children up to the age of 7 must travel in an approved car seat or booster seat.
Ms Waugh called for more education and information to be made available for parents about suitable car seats.
"Education is the key and it needs to start from antenatal classes. With child restraints there's always new parents and new caregivers so it's an ongoing problem," said Ms Waugh.
Senior Sergeant Ian Campion
Head of Western Bay road policing, Senior Sergeant Ian Campion, said the importance of correct child restraints was imperative.
"I want parents to make sure they have the correct child restraint that is appropriate for the child's age, and that it's fitted correctly and that it's worn correctly.
"Anything that enhances the safety of children in a vehicle is amazingly positive."
John Ward, grandfather of two 2-year-old Maddison Ward, who was killed in a crash in Oropi early this year, said the statistics were an important reminder for parents.
"We didn't get to transport our granddaughter around too much but [Madison] had the proper car seat," Mr Ward said.
Of the 34 child deaths identified in the report, 74 per cent were unintentional, 12 per cent were self-inflicted, 9 per cent were because of assault and 6 per cent were undetermined.
When asked what concern the self-inflicted deaths presented to the Bay of Plenty District Health Board, Child and Youth portfolio manager Johnny Louie said in a written statement: "Any child's death is concerning. The BOPDHB child and adolescent mental health services are in place to help those children who are at the severe end of the mental health and addictions spectrum."
Mr Louie said the best answer to preventing child injuries in the Bay was the health board's involvement in the Midland Regional Trauma Service, a sector-leading initiative which spans five Midland health boards.
Mr Louie said it meant that, if they were able to identify hotspots of injury by location and nature of injury, they could then target the hotspots.
"We are always concerned about the rate of injury or death in children because we would wish it to be as low as possible and as close to zero as practicably possible."
