Residential speed bumps help reduce the risk of injury to children

Children living within a block of a speed bump have about a 50% lower risk of being injured or killed by a moving vehicle in their neighborhood than do their peers, researchers have found.

Dr. June Tester, a pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, led a five-year study involving 100 children, ages 14 and younger, who were struck by vehicles within a quarter-mile of their homes and brought to the hospital’s emergency room. She compared them with 200 children who were treated at the hospital for other conditions.

The children who had been struck by cars were less likely to live within one block of a speed bump than those of the same age and sex treated on the same day.

Similar to other national findings, the most likely group to be struck was boys ages 5 to 7.

“A lot of people talk about the importance of educating children to look both ways before they cross and to not run out in traffic,” Tester said. “While there’s a role for education, it’s even smarter to think of modifications to the environment that will benefit many generations. Making sure that our built-environment is a safe one is a very important health issue.”

The study appears in the April issue of American Journal of Public Health.

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Valerie Reitman