Traffic Accidents Take Deadly Toll on Teens

Mar. 23 -- FRIDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) -- A new report finds that, worldwide, traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for 15- to 19-year-olds.

According to an editorial in the April 21 issue of The Lancet, traffic accidents are also the second most likely cause of death for both 10- to 14-year-olds and 20- to 24-year-olds, and the number three killer of children ages 5 to 9 years.

"As infectious disease is decreasing, we are seeing more deaths from injury around the world, and motor vehicle crashes is one of the major causes," said Dr. Karen Sheehan, medical director of Injury Prevention and Research at Children's Memorial Hospital and medical director for Injury Free Coalition for Kids in Chicago.

Sheehan noted that, in the United States, the total number of deaths in road accidents has declined with the advent of seat belt laws, air bags and safer cars, better roads, and crackdowns on drunk driving.

But traffic accidents still affect teenagers more than other groups, Sheehan said. "It's the young new driver who is most at risk," she said. "These drivers are inexperienced. And the risk for an accident increases if there are a lot of kids in the car," she added.

The Lancet editorial cited data from next week's World Health Organization (WHO) Youth and Road Safety report.

According to the report, the problem is worse in poorer countries. In 2002, more than half of the 380,000 young people who died in traffic accidents were in Africa and Southeast Asia. The report estimated that 7,000 people under 25 will be killed in traffic accidents worldwide during the seven days that mark UN Global Road Safety Week, which begins April 23.

Worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million people of all ages are killed each year in traffic accidents, the WHO report found.

In the United States, two out of five deaths among U.S. teens come as the result of motor vehicle crashes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2002, more than 5,000 American teens ages 16 to 19 died of injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents.