A study of the distribution and determinants of childhood pedestrian injuries in Perth, Western Australia

[Truncated] The aims of this study were to determine the major factors related to childhood pedestrian injuries in Perth, to ascertain to what extent the child's exposure to the road environment influenced these factors, and to propose appropriate preventive strategies. The investigation was prompted by the dearth of analytical studies which considered the child's exposure to the road environment in explaining the characteristics of childhood pedestrian injuries. A case-control study involving 100 injured child pedestrians aged 1 to 14 years and 400 children (also aged 1 to 14 years) who had never been involved in a pedestrian motor vehicle collision was conducted between December 1991 and December 1993. Aspects of the child's social and physical environments, measures of his or her behaviour, cognitive skills and 'habitual' exposure to the road environment, as well as his or her knowledge of road safety, were recorded. Further to this, specific traffic factors such as the volume and speed of vehicular traffic were also examined at 100 injury sites and 200 comparable control sites. The control sites were identified using a computerised Geographic Information System.