INJURIES resulting from road crashes could become the leading health burden for children over five years old by 2015, if current road crash trends are sustained in developing countries, such as Jamaica, says Paula Fletcher, executive director of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC).

Fletcher’s comments come against the background of recent statistics showing a slight increase in the number of children killed in road crashes in Jamaica since the start of the year.

As of May 19, some 21 children were killed in crashes, up from 15 children up to 18 years, during the same period in 2010. Most of them were pedestrians.

“We must do more to protect our children. We need to educate them and drivers to be more mindful about walking and driving on our roads, respectively; as well as, put in the infrastructure to make our roads safer,” Fletcher commented.

She also indicated that tighter legislation to combat road safety issues was advanced and would be implemented, shortly.

Chairman of the Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA) and council member of the Federation Internationale de lí Automobile (FIA), Earl Jarrett, adds that once children reach the age of five in developing countries, unintentional injuries, such as road crashes, become the biggest threat to their survival.

Agreeing with Fletcher, he said that traffic crashes was the main cause in the deaths of young people.

“Road crashes are killing more children worldwide than malaria,” said Jarrett, who is patron of the Jamaica Driver and Traffic Safety Expo.

The Expo, driven by the Grennell’s Driving School in Mona, St Andrew, is set to focus on child vulnerability at its June 18 showcase.

“One of the main focuses of this Expo will be pedestrians and children, who represent a large number of persons walking on our streets,” noted Alphonso Grennell, managing director, Grennell’s Driving School. Children account for some 26 per cent of the number of pedestrians killed each year.

One of the highlights of the Expo will be a presentation on pedestrian vulnerability, which will be facilitated by Eric Kipps, director, Jaric Environment Safety and Health Services Ltd, which is based in Trinidad and Tobago.

“There will also be presentations to examine the transportation of our children,” Grennell added, pointing out that many adults were not ensuring that children were properly seated and ‘buckling up’ to reduce the possibility of injury or death, in the event of a crash.

In addition to injuries and fatalities Grennell stated that one of the areas of focus at the Expo would be a child of crash victims. He said that many children continue to be orphaned by road fatalities, or are forced to take on family responsibilities because the head of their family becomes incapacitated.

“We are going to highlight some of these issues, to show the negative impact of road crashes on our children, who represent the future of our country,” he declared, “we will have to do more to make our roads safer for them.”