Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Organisations buckle up to raise awareness
CHILD Passenger Safety Week is in sight from September 18–24 and organisations are buckling up to raise awareness about road traffic accidents, which are considered the leading cause of death among children under age 10.
This comes after a report compiled by ChildSafe, using data from the trauma unit at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH) indicated that road traffic injuries are the fourth leading cause of injury in children and account for 12% of all injuries.
The report also indicated that in 2021, 620 children were treated for traffic-related injuries, down from 677 in 2020. Some 65% of pedestrians were aged between 5 and 12 years, 35% were under 4 years, and 364 children treated by the RCWMCH trauma unit were injured while playing in the road.
The report said passenger injuries were 16% of traffic injuries, and of the child passengers treated at the RCWMCH trauma unit, 89% were unrestrained.
Member of the Trauma Society of South Africa, Timothy Hardcastle, said the after-effects of road traffic injuries on children were immense, ranging from developmental delays to longterm issues with mental and physical function.
“There is a mix of minor to major injury, from broken bones and wounds right through to severe head and chest injury that needs ICU admission.
“There are also lots of children who die at the scene due to the severity of the injury. The effect on schooling is immense, with developmental delays and long-term issues with mental and physical function. There is a severe lack of rehabilitation access for recovery from injury and this worsens the results of the good work done at the hospital level of care.
“The root of the problem is a mixture of poor public transport (roads, maintenance and policing), poor economic status, poor pedestrian zones, along with multiple competing interests for health care (maternal health, NCDs and HIV/Aids). The poor use of child restraints, cycle helmets and other safety devices is an indictment of our society,” said Hardcastle.
Looking at the effects of alcohol on these injuries, the report found there were 110 alcohol-related road traffic injuries from January to February 2021, which decreased to 96 for the same period in 2022.
With the country’s drinking culture rooted in the “dop” system, the innovation manager at the DG Murray Trust, Onesisa Mtwa, said alcoholrelated traumas and diseases cost public health facilities more than R11 billion a year, and this burden had an impact on the struggling public health system’s ability to adequately deliver quality services to communities.
“The direct and indirect costs of alcohol-related harms is costing the country roughly R277bn a year. This includes costs to the public health system, crime, welfare, economic productivity, road accidents and deaths.
“A strengthened Liquor Amendment Bill can be the beginning of reducing the high and burdensome costs of alcohol-related harms on our society. While it could take at least 15 years to begin seeing tangible change, this legislation can help us change the trajectory of our society,” said Mtwa.
ChildSafe spokesperson Chiedza Mujeni said child safety seats and safety belts were crucial.
“Most children in South Africa travel without being properly buckled up either in child safety seats or seat belts. Unrestrained children are more likely to be injured, suffer severe injuries and die in motor vehicle crashes than children who are restrained.
“Although engineers around the world have worked to make cars safer, people should never allow adults to drink and drive, to use their cellphones while driving, to put children at the back of a bakkie, to hold children on their laps, or to put a child in a rear-facing car seat in a front seat of a car with an active frontal airbag.”