Holiday time means injuries

Be safe this Christmas

Northland parents need to keep a close eye on their children these holidays after more than 10,000 ACC claims for injuries to school-aged Northland children were made during school holidays since April 2012.

Up to the end of this year's July holidays, the claims had cost ACC more than $3 million.

There were 10,154 Northland school-aged children's ACC claims during school holidays from April 6, 2012, to July 19, 2015, totalling $3,393,617. In term time, the bulk of the year's activity time, there were 45,927, totalling $12,042,489.

Far North Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP) road safety and community educator Jodi Betts said parents needed to think about new environments when they went away.

"In the Christmas holidays, people are very relaxed - sitting around socialising and might let their kids go off with their cousins, say," Ms Betts said.

"Parents need to be aware that if they're going from a rural to an urban environment or an urban to a rural environment, things will be very different for their kids. If they go off for a bike ride, for example, [parents] should not just be reminding their kids to put a helmet on but also talking about how the roads or paths are different from what they're used to and what they need to be aware of."

Parents should take particular care around driveways when there were kids around and be careful on the roads, she said.

"Car restraints need to be appropriate for your car and the height of your children, and make sure you're all getting breaks when you're on the road. It's not just the driver that needs rest. If there's tired and grumpy kids in the back, they can distract the driver."

Nationally, more than 200,000 new claims were laid with ACC for school-aged children during school holidays between April 2012 and the end of the July holidays this year. The claims have so far cost ACC more than $69 million. An average of 28,000 claims were made during summer breaks.

Injuries often occurred in the lead-up to Christmas when parents were stressed and not necessarily watching their children as much as normal, Safekids Aotearoa director Ann Weaver said. Injuries also happened at barbecues and other summer get-togethers when no adults in particular were watching children, she said.

"Absolutely let kids run around and have fun but it's a good idea to have at least one designated adult keeping an eye on what the kids are up to."