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> "About 115 children are kidnapped by strangers each year, according to federal statistics; 250,000 are injured in auto accidents." Maybe. My question is that
by catzaa 17y ago
> "About 115 children are kidnapped by strangers each year, according to federal statistics; 250,000 are injured in auto accidents."
Maybe. My question is that how many of those children that are in auto-accidents are pedestrians? The problem is that a lot of motorists do not drive carefully around pedestrians (since there is no risk to you by a pedestrian).
I have driven with people who do not even attempt to slow down when there is a group of kids walking along the side of the road. I would rather have my child in a vehicle than on a bicycle when he is in an accident. A guy in an SUV will not even notice that he drove over a ten year old.
- hughprime 17y agoThat's a good question, and goes to show that sensible parents who worry about letting their children walk alone should be worried about traffic. And yet, in the article, so many of the quotes are from parents worried about paedophiles.
- lutorm 17y agoMuch of that traffic seems to be the parents. Every year when school starts, there are articles in the papers where the police and school officials remind parents to PLEASE obey speed limits and traffic laws when dropping their kids off.
- kscaldef 17y agoYes, this. Our school also requests parents driving their kids to school to consider parking a couple blocks away and walking the remaining distance. A few people seem to do this, but it seems that the majority still can't fathom doing anything but dropping their kid off at the curb in front of the school.
- silentbicycle 17y agoFor such accidents within the US, check the census bureau statistics: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/transportation/motor_vehicle_accidents_and_fatalities.html http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/transportation/m...
- by 17y agoOnly 13.5% of the traffic deaths were pedestrians and bicyclists in this study http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_crash#Common_types_of_collision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_crash#Common_types_of_colli... whereas the main causes of death are stroke and heart attack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Causes_of_death_by_age_group.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Causes_of_death_by_age_gro... both of which are to some extent prevented by exercise. So it seems probable that parents who stop their children walking to school are more likely to kill them than save their lives.
- kscaldef 17y agoThat's for the full population. It would be more relevant to know the breakdown of in-vehicle vs pedestrian / bicyclist deaths for children.