Why do we need a Children's Safety Village in Lambton?

Injury prevention experts estimate that 90-95% of childhood injuries are easily preventable. Our Safety Village can help to dramatically reduce injuries by teaching individual responsibility and awareness whenever a child rides in a motor vehicle, pedals a bicycle, walks down the street, meets strangers, is offered illegal substances, needs assistance, or encounters other potential hazardous circumstances in the home or community.

Through hands-on training at our Safety Village, children will develop a positive attitude toward safety that will be remembered and practiced into adulthood. After all, our children are our most important asset.

• Unintentional injuries cost Canadians about $8.7 billion per year or $300. for each resident in the country. With a population of about 100,000, this represents an annual cost to Lambton residents of about $30,000,000.
• Almost all injuries involving children have one thing in common: they are preventable.
• Falls account for about 40 per cent and motor vehicle crashes about 20 per cent of the total cost.
• The remaining 40 per cent can be attributed to drowning, poisoning, fires, and other injuries.
• On average, each injury in Canada generates $4,000 in direct and indirect costs.
  

• Children and youth: Injuries are the leading cause of death among Canadians throughout childhood and from 1 to 40 years of age. In 1996, unintentional injuries (such as automobile crashes, poisoning and falls) accounted for almost 70% of injury-related deaths among children and youth.

• Seniors: The injury rate leading to death or hospitalization is higher for seniors than any other age group in Canada and is expected to grow as the Canadian population ages. The most common cause of injury among seniors is falls and in 1995, more than $980 million was spent to cover the cost of direct medical care to treat these falls.

• Motorists: About 3,000 people per year die in motor vehicle crashes in Canada. Of that total, 40 per cent (1,200 deaths) are attributed to alcohol. Canadians are spending up to $25 billion annually in emergency care, rehabilitation and other costs resulting from traffic collisions.

• Farm workers: Each year in Canada, farming injuries cause about 120 deaths and 1,200 medical interventions. Deaths to farmers and farm workers represent 13% of all occupational fatalities in Canada.
  

• The death and hospitalization rates for most types of injuries among children and youth under the age of 20 are declining, but injuries are still the leading cause of death and account for about 1 hospitalization in 6. For the period 1990-1992, the mean number of annual deaths related to injury in this age group was 1,542 and the mean number of hospitalizations approximately 81,000. There were about 53 hospitalizations for every death.

• Many injuries are still occurring in seemingly safe situations. For example, more than 1 in 5 injuries among those under 20 occurred in and around homes, and these injuries accounted for 44.8% of all injury cases recorded for this age group in the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP).

• Children and youth are too often injured and sometimes die as a result of hazards in their environment. Unintentional injury continues to be the greatest cause of mortality, morbidity and disability for children and youth in Canada. Most of these injuries are preventable.

• In 1994 in Canada, there were 6,700 deaths resulting from unintentional injury.
• In 1995 preventable injuries cost $8.7 billion or $300 for every citizen.
• On average, each injury generates $4,000 in direct and indirect costs.
• Treating children and youth for falls costs $630 million annually with males representing slightly more cases than females.
• Canadians do not need to spend $8.7 billion to treat 2 million injuries that could have been largely prevented in the first place.
• Injuries are not accidents, and investing in injury prevention can save lives and money.
• Many people view injuries as inevitable chance and random occurrences. In fact, the opposite is true.
• Increasing attention has been given to injury as a critical public health issue, however resources are being directed to treatment rather than prevention.
• It is time to acknowledge that injuries are predictable and preventable. It is time for Canadians to see the risk, reduce the risk, and ultimately manage the risk in their lives.
• Injuries are not accidental or haphazard events. They are predictable, the risk factors are identifiable, and the interventions are available to prevent and minimize the impact of energy.