Morbidity and mortality from road traffic crashes in children in Metro West, City of Cape Town – 2014

The road traffic crash injury burden significantly impacts the lives of South African children. This study aimed to assess the fatal and non-fatal pattern of road traffic crash injury of children under 13 years old from Metro West, City of Cape Town, from 1 January until 31 December 2014. The data were stratified by age, sex and mechanism of road traffic crash. The overall mortality rate was 8.7 per 100 000 population and pedestrians contributed the most to this burden (72.5%). There were more male children involved in a road traffic crash (p = 0.0001). The greatest proportion of fatal and non-fatal road traffic crash injuries was observed in children aged 5–9 years. Fractures contributed to the greatest rate of years lived with disability (3.0 years of life lived with disability per 100 000). Our study found that the burden of road traffic crashes primarily affects male pedestrians aged 5–9 years old.