The start of the school year is always an exciting, and perhaps even a bit daunting, time, for youth in our communities. The Expositor wishes to add our voice to those asking for caution from drivers.
A 2016 study from Toronto found that 411 children were involved in motor vehicle collisions near schools over a 12-year period, with 29 children requiring emergency room treatment.
On average, about 1,000 child pedestrians, ages up to 14, are injured each year in Canada.
Child pedestrian fatalities in 2023 numbered 18—that’s 18 too many. Especially since many of those injuries and fatalities are entirely preventable.
Oddly, it is the older children, teenagers, who seem to be more prone to being hurt in vehicle-student collisions. No matter what their age, getting hit by a vehicle, car or truck, can result in life-altering injuries for the child.
As if they didn’t have enough strikes against them, children in lower-income areas are at a higher risk of being injured by motor vehicles than those living in higher-income neighbourhoods in Ontario, according to a study from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), York University and the International Credential Evaluation Service.
The cause of these injuries is inevitably linked to speeding and distracted driving.
Too many vehicles do not slow down when entering an area where school children can be found making their way to or from classes—and too often when they do it is what is on the screens on their cellphones they are paying attention to and not what is going on outside their windshields.
Too many vehicles still swerve past school buses dropping off their young charges on the side of the road. That is behaviour that should have greater penalties and enforcement than is presently the case.
A child’s life is filled with potential and there are few greater tragedies that seeing that life cut short because someone was in a hurry or not paying proper attention to the road in front of them. There are, of course, fines for distracted driving and speeding, but no amount of money or other retribution can make up for the loss of a child’s life or the pain and suffering they will go through after being hit by a vehicle.
So, as the school year begins, and throughout the coming months, The Expositor pleads with drivers to pay close attention to the world around them, and the children on the road who might not be paying enough attention to the oncoming traffic. When entering a school zone, or any area where school children might be, slow down—even if it means going below the speed limit. Factor slower speeds into your daily commute.
A child’s life is too far too precious to sacrifice just for a few second’s sooner arrival at your destination.
