Summer accidents take a large toll on Utah kids

Utah is one of the worst states when it comes to safety for children during summer months, ranking a miserable 39th. Drownings, head injuries, falls, run-overs and car crashes, among others, take a devastating toll.

That's according to the first-ever Safe Kids U.S. Summer Safety Ranking Report released Monday, which looks at safety of children 14 and under during May through August, months that traditionally have more injuries and deaths as kids are outside playing more.

"The bottom line is these things are largely preventable," said Kevin Condra, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Health Violence and Injury Prevention Program. "And while this report measured deaths, remember that for every child who dies, there are several children injured that end up being treated."

In Utah, the leading causes of what health experts call largely-preventable deaths were pedestrian deaths, drownings, motor vehicle crashes in which the child was a passenger, falls and bike accidents, Condra said. And though the latter two categories accounted for fewer deaths, more than 98,000 children were treated at the hospital for falls and another 11,000 for bike accidents during the study period, 2000-04.

Vermont was best when it comes to summer safety, with 1.6 child deaths per 100,000 from 2000-04. Wyoming fared worst, with 8.3 deaths per 100,000. Utah's rate was 4.7 deaths per 100,000 — 153 child deaths during the period studied. Nationally, the average for the period was 3.7 deaths per 100,000.

The take-home message, according to Janet Brooks, Safe Kids Utah co-chairwoman and child advocacy manager at Primary Children's Medical Center, is parental or other adult supervision is critical in reducing injuries. "People don't recognize injury as a threat to their children. And every summer we see incidents increase dramatically when kids are out of school and not supervised minute by minute or hour by hour."

The report did note Utah achieved a 10.3 percent drop in childhood deaths when the period from 1997-99 was compared to data from 2002-04, said Brooks, who credits education efforts like child car seat safety checks and the driveway backover prevention program "Spot the Tot" for some of the reduction.

The national report focuses on summer months because drownings increase 89 percent from May to August, compared to other months, while biking deaths go up 45 percent, fall-related deaths rise 21 percent, motor vehicle passenger deaths increase 20 percent and pedestrian deaths rise 16 percent.