This year marks the 20th anniversary of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations, whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury. In celebration, Safe Kids USA analyzed where the United States stands on accidental childhood injury today as compared to 1987 and 1997. There is great news to share! The accidental injury death rate for children ages 14 and under is down 45 percent in the United States since 1987.*

But there is also bad news: Accidental injury remains the leading killer of our nation’s children ages one to 14.

• In 2005, accidental injury claimed the lives of 5,162 children ages 14 and under.
• In 2006, there were more than 6.2 million children’s emergency department visits for accidental injuries in that age group. Many of these deaths and serious injuries could have been prevented.

Why there been such a significant drop:

• Design improvements in child safety seats, bicycle helmets, smoke alarms and other safety devices have made children safer in their environments.
• And with the help of policy-makers, more stringent laws have made safety precautions a routine part of our everyday lives.

But the report unveils startling results demonstrating parents need to do more to keep their kids safe.

• Only 58 percent of parents with children 14 and under report their child being involved in a serious accident or getting seriously injured as a major concern, a seven percentage-point drop since 1987.
• Fifty-one percent of parents say they have done something in the past year to reduce the likelihood of their child being involved in an accident, compared to 53 percent of parents saying the same thing in 1987. There is little change from 1987 to 2007 in the amount done by parents to ensure their child’s safety.
• When parents do take action, they are not always taking the right steps every time their child is at risk of injury (for example, 31 percent of households with children 14 and under do not consistently ensure their child rides in the back seat of a vehicle all the time).

Despite the overall decline across the risk areas, even one death is too many. Parents need to take the steps to keep their children safe. These deaths or permanent disabilities can be prevented!

Safe Kids Mid-South, led by Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, suggests three things parents can do that could have a major impact on their children’s safety:

1. Ensure your child is properly secured in a back seat of a vehicle for every ride.
2. Always keep your eyes on your children when they are playing in or near water.
3. Do not place blankets, pillows or other soft items in a baby’s crib. Keep small items such as toy parts, coins and buttons away from children under age three.

In addition, Safe Kids is calling on national and state governmental leaders to recognize that accidental injury is the No. 1 threat to our nation’s children, and in response, to marshal a multi-faceted effort. Some of our specific calls to action to government include:

1. Congress continuing it efforts to modernize the operations of the U. S.
   Consumer Product Safety Commission so that it can better fulfill its critical
   mission of protecting consumers, especially children, from dangerous products.
2. The President and Congress providing sufficient federal budget support for the other federal agencies charged with promoting child safety. Those agencies include the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the United States Fire Administration, the Centers for Disease Control (National Center for Injury Prevention) and others.
3. State legislators addressing specific risk areas – such as motor vehicle collisions by improving laws that require all children to be appropriately buckled in a child safety seat or safety belt.

*Safe Kids USA Report to the Nation: Trends in Unintentional Childhood Injury Mortality and Parental Views on Child Safety, April 2008