Children and pedestrian casualties in Qatar..

Children make up ‘50% of pedestrian casualties’
The trauma and surgical critical care unit at the HMC disclosed at a symposium yesterday that about 66% of the victims of bicycle related injuries at homes were below the age of one.
It was also informed at the meeting that one in 10 (10%) victims was run over in his or her home.
“The mean severity of their injuries based on our injury severity score is only second to the front seat passengers injured or killed in road traffic accidents (RTA)s. However, it is significant to note that none of such cycle riders has died,” pointed out director of Trauma & Surgical critical care Dr Ruben Peralta Rosaraio in his presentation.
The specialist also found that child pedestrians made up almost 50% of all children victims of the road traffic accidents in Qatar.
“The victims were older but still not old enough to be unsupervised pedestrians.” It is recommended that only children of 10 years or above have appropriate neuro-motor development to walk without adult supervision safely, he said.
The meeting was also informed that one in 12 road traffic accident victims died from traumatic brain injuries (TBI). “In fact all pedestrian mortalities are from TBIs”, Dr Peralta.
Even though it has been instructed over and again by traffic authorities to prohibit children from sitting in the front seat in vehicles, violations have been repeated at intervals. “Many of the victims of RTAs were children sitting in the front seat of vehicles and almost all of them died from TBIs,” said Dr Peralta. Most of them could have been in the lap of elders at the time of accidents.
While focusing on the necessity of increasing awareness on RTAs among children, the specialist advocated consistent enforcement of laws that require people to use pedestrian crossings and drivers be told to respect pedestrians’ rights.
The trauma department also highlighted the increasing necessity of building pedestrian underpasses or foot over bridges too to protect pedestrians and children.