Accidental Deaths Down 30% in Children Over the Past Decade, CDC Says

A lot of fuss is made over “helicopter parenting,” and whether safety interventions are necessary for common childhood activities like riding in a car, using a bike, rollerskating and so on and so forth.

Missives are passed around on Facebook and other social media sites excoriating a world that bubble wraps children, and glorifies a time when children biked without helmets, drank from garden hoses and came home when the streetlights came on. However, a new study from the CDC could poke holes in that nostalgia, indicating that accidental deaths of children are down a sharp 30% just in the early 2000s.

The study gathered data from accidental deaths of children between 2001 and 2009, and found that car accidents, drowning, poisoning, fires and falls were becoming far less likely to claim the lives of children, and that the only area in which accidental deaths were up was suffocation, which the agency notes is frequently preventable when guidelines for safety are adhered to.

Linda Degutis, director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, commented in a release about the study:

“Every four seconds, a child is treated for an injury in the emergency department, and every hour a child dies as a result of an injury. Child injury remains a serious problem in which everyone- including parents, state health officials, health care providers, government and community groups — has a critical role to play to protect and save the lives of our young people.”

The CDC says it plans to continue with awareness campaigns and further reduce the rate of accidental injury and death in children.

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Tags: Accidental Death, CDC, Child Safety

About the Author

Kim LaCapria Kim LaCapria is a writer and editor based in New York. A longtime information junkie, she began blogging full-time at the Inquisitr in 2009. Prior to that, she worked as a marketing assistant in the cosmetics and skincare industry. In addition to her writing for fortytwotimes, she also writes for Medacity and The Inquisitr. Kim is also a contributor for SocialNewsDaily, Indyposted, and TotallyMoney. In the past, she contributed to Lipstick and Luxury and managed social media accounts and blogs for several small and mid-sized businesses.