Leading Health Indicator 7 Injury Florida 2010 Goal for Children and Youth Reduce mortality, morbidity and disability in children and youth due to unintentional injuries and suicide HP 2010 Goal Reduce injuries, disabilities, and deaths due to unintentional injuries and violence Note: the Healthy People 2010 Leading Indicator is Injury and Violence. Violence objectives are located in Florida's leading Indicator for Children and Youth — Child Abuse and Violence.

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children, youth and young adults between the ages of 1 and 24 and the fourth leading cause of death for infants less than one year old. Of 2,407 deaths to Florida residents age 1 to 24 years old in 2000, the majority (68 percent or 1625)

Unintentional Injuries are the leading cause of death for children over age 1, youth and young adults.

were a result of injuries and most of these (1207 or 74 percent) were unintentional injuries.⁽¹⁾    For each death from unintentional injuries, 15 to 20 hospitalizations, 200 to 250 emergency department visits ^{((2, 3)}  and an estimated 1,667 non-medically treated injuries⁽⁴⁾   occur. Causes of unintentional injury vary by age. The leading mechanisms of unintentional injury mortality in Florida are occupants of motor vehicle crashes, drowning, traffic related pedestrian injuries, suffocation or choking, and fire or burns.


Motor Vehicle Crashes

Among the 0 to 24-year-old population in 2000, motor vehicle collisions contributed to 612 vehicle-related deaths, 84 pedestrian deaths, 50 motorcycle deaths and 14 pedalcycle deaths.

Figure 37: Disparities in U.S. and Florida Motor Vehicle-Related Deaths by Age/Ethnicity, 1999

Source: Office of Statistics and Programming, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, WIQARS System - CDC NCHS Vital Statistics System and Bureau of the Census http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html

Florida death rates from motor vehicle crashes are higher than the national average and are highest among 15 to 24-year-olds than any other age group. Hispanic youth and males aged 5-24 represent two subgroups of Florida's youth that are at greater risk for death from a motor vehicle crash.

Motor vehicle crashes are the largest mechanism of death for children and youth over age 5.

More than 80 percent of pedestrian deaths to children and youth are motor vehicle-related. Pedestrian death rates among 0 to 24-year-olds in 1999 were higher than the national average for every age group with the highest rates seen in 15 to 24-year olds. Death and disability to children and youth from motor vehicle crashes are eminently preventable. Increased use of safety restraints and reductions in driving while impaired are two of the most effective means to reduce the risk of death and serious injury of occupants in motor vehicle crashes. ^(5-7)   Of Florida's high school students, 15.6 percent (12.7 percent females and 18.3 percent males) reported never or rarely wearing a seat belt when riding in a car driven by someone else in 2001.⁽⁸⁾

Nearly 40 percent of traffic fatalities in 1997 were alcohol related … In 1996, 21 percent of traffic fatalities of children aged 14 years and under involved alcohol; 60 percent of the time the driver of the car in which the child was a passenger was impaired. The highest intoxication rates in fatal crashes in 1995 were recorded for drivers aged 21 to 24 years. Young drivers who have been arrested for driving while impaired are more than four times as likely to die in future alcohol-related crashes.

— Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000).
Healthy People 2010 Understanding and Improving Health U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC p.38.