Alter built environment to reduce childhood injury
A new report on childhood injury in Canada recommends altering the built environment to reduce the number of children hurt and killed every year. Modifying roads so they are more pedestrian and bike friendly would reduce the risk of injury and get kids walking to school again, says Dr. Andrew Howard in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Dr. Howard is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and chairs the national expert advisory committee for Sick Kids Canada. In Keeping children safe: rethinking how we design our surroundings, published on Oct. 5 at the CMAJ website, Dr. Howard concludes that “intelligent planning, particularly with consideration for urban design and traffic engineering to emphasize safe walking and cycling, has enormous potential to improve the health and safety of children now and across the lifespan.” The full report is available on the CMAJ website.