Call To Cut Driveway Deaths

Parents with young children should take great care when reversing their car in the driveway at home, according to a study on driveway trauma published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

The study, by Research Fellow, Dr Andrew Holland, and colleagues at The New Children's Hospital, examined records for children admitted to the hospital with injuries sustained from driveway trauma over a four year period. They also examined driveway deaths reported to the NSW Paediatric Trauma Death Registry between 1988 and 1999.

Some 42 children were admitted to the hospital over the four year period with driveway related injuries, representing 12% of all children admitted with pedestrian motor vehicle injuries.

There were also 14 deaths reported to the NSW registry over the 12-year period, accounting for 8% of all reported paediatric pedestrian motor vehicle deaths.

Typically, the injuries involved a parent or relative reversing a vehicle in the home driveway over a toddler or pre-school age child in late afternoon or early evening.

Four wheel drive or light commercial vehicles were involved in 42% of all injuries, although they account for only 30.4% of registered vehicles. These vehicles were also associated with a 2.5 times increased risk of fatality, being involved in just under two-thirds of the deaths.

In 13 of the 14 deaths, the cause was a severe head injury not amenable to medical intervention, making prevention the only effective way to reduce the death toll.

"The optimal prevention would appear to be clear separation of the driveway and garage from the children's play area by a physical barrier such as a fence, wall or self-locking gate," Dr Holland said.

"We recommend the same degree of vigilance taken with regard to swimming pool safety should be applied to the driveway and that legislation should be introduced to limit access to this area either by design or the use of temporary fencing.

"As an interim measure, we advocate extreme caution be exercised by parents, relatives and neighbours of young families when reversing out of driveways, particularly in vehicles with restricted vision and at greater risk of causing fatal injury, such as four-wheel drives, vans and trucks," Dr Holland said.

Based on an article published on the Internet by The Medical Journal of Australia <http://www.mja.com.au>. The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.