Citation

Gustafsson LH. J. Traffic Med. 1977; 5(4): 61-66.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1977, International Association for Accident and Traffic Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The results of the studies presented above indicate rather that childhood accidents constitute a widespread phenomenon and that it is difficult to identify special risk groups. All hildren seem to live in such a dangerous environment that the risk of accident are always present. Few children are actually accident-prone; lack of supervision may sometimes contribute to accidents but most often it is the random and, in practice, unavoidable variations in the complex interplay between the numerous risk factors and the child's own activity that decide when, where and how an accident will happen. This seems to apply to childhood accidents as a whole, but at the same time the problems of the inhomogeneous result variable must be kept in mind. It is possible- even probable, that specific causative patterns can be traced behind certain types of accidents. Further research in this field is needed. With our present knowledge, the owkr of child protection should be oriented in the sense that it should be consistently directed towards types of accidents resulting in severe injuries. The measures subsequently taken, on the other hand, should be general, in the sense that they should benefit all children. The work entailed in the studies presented here has convinced tha author that a marked decrease of the number of severe accidents to children can only be accomplished by whole-hearted concentration on a radically improved environment for all children.