Brain injuries are the number one killer of kids

Northern Injury Prevention Practitioners Network
Media Release

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Injuries to the brain are the number one killer of kids under the age of 24. During Brain Injury Awareness Week, the Northern Injury Prevention Practitioners Network wants to remind you that using seat belts and child restraints saves lives.

“In 1976, Ontario was the first jurisdiction in North America to make wearing a seatbelt mandatory,” said Jeff Griffith, Ministry of Transportation. “Since that time, motor vehicle collision injuries have steadily declined, but there is still more work to be done.”

It’s a fact that seatbelts save lives. Wearing your seatbelt is the single most effective way to reduce the chance of injury or death in motor vehicle collisions. Using a seatbelt or a properly installed child restraint will reduce the risk of death in a motor vehicle collision by 75 percent, and it will reduce the chance of injury by 55 percent. Transport Canada estimates that every one percent increase in seatbelt use will save five lives each year.

Transport Canada conducted a Rural Seatbelt Study in 2004 and found that almost 88 percent of all drivers wear their seatbelt. While these results are higher than its previous study, these results suggest that nearly one million Ontarians still do not wear their seatbelt when driving. At the same time, about one-third of all drivers and passengers killed in motor vehicle collisions during 2004, were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of collision.

On December 1, 2006, the Ontario government implemented a new law that requires every driver and every passenger to wear a seatbelt or use a child restraint while traveling in a motor vehicle. This legislation will put a stop to many preventable deaths on Ontario’s roads.

Think First, a national, non-profit organization which dedicates its resources to raising awareness of the affects of traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, says that non-fatal brain and spinal cord injuries leave many survivors with permanent disabilities affecting speech, vision, movement, cognitive function and behaviour.

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