Children from poor neighbourhoods are more likely to be hit by vehicle drivers

June 03, 2019, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto recently released a new study revealing that children from poorer areas of Ontario are more likely to be hits by drivers of cars than kids from wealthier areas. The conclusions are that this may be due to the fact that children from poorer areas are more likely to walk to school alone. In many middle classes and wealthy neighbourhoods children are often driven to school by parents or walk their children to school. In poorer neighbourhoods children do not have as many supports from home.

 Sick Kids, York University and ICES (the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) analyzed data from emergency room visits by children who had been hit by drivers from 2008 – 2015 and found that overall ER visits dropped by 18% for car strikes but children in low-income neighbourhoods were 14% more likely to be hit by car drivers over the period.

The study also revealed the following statistics:

• Teens and pre-teens were at highest risk of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions. Teens aged 15 to 19 accounted for 51 per cent of emergency department visits due to pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and pre-teens aged 10 to 14 accounted for 26 per cent of visits;
• 73 per cent of collisions occurred in cities, and 20 per cent occurred in suburbs;
• 54 per cent of children who visited the emergency department due to pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions were males.

Other conclusions from the study include the observation that province wide results show that traffic is less safe in poorer areas and that steps should be taken to make the pedestrian environment safer.

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Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

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