Accident Statistics

Injuries are a major source of childhood emergency department and hospital admissions. The most recent accident statistics from the National Safety Council, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and other sources tell us that:

• Injury is the leading cause of death in children and young adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 12,000 children and young adults, ages 1 to 19 years, die from unintentional injuries each year.

• Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injury for children. Children ages 19 and under account for about 8,000 fall-related visits to hospital emergency rooms every day.

• Each year about 100 children are killed and 254,000 are injured as a result of bicycle-related accidents. 

• Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 1 to 4. The majority of drownings and near-drownings occur in residential swimming pools and in open water sites.  However, children can drown in as little as one inch of water.

• Airway obstruction injury (suffocation) is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among infants under age 1.

• Each year, about 2,000 children ages 14 and under die as a result of a home injury. Unintentional home injury deaths to children are caused primarily by fire and burns, suffocation, drowning, firearms, falls, choking, and poisoning.