Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505080135
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The National Safe Kids Campaign survey found that more can be done to protect youngsters from crashes, burns, falls, poisoning and other mishaps.
``The heartache, the nearly $14 billion cost to society of these injuries, could be avoided,'' said Heather Paul, executive director of the campaign.
As part of ``National Safe Kids Week,'' the campaign is distributing millions of safety checklists to children through schools and stores.
The campaign, founded by Johnson & Johnson in 1987, is a coalition of national and grassroots groups dedicated to raising awareness about child safety.
About one-third of families don't wear seat belts on every trip and nearly two-thirds sometimes ride bicycles without wearing helmets, according to the national telephone survey of 804 parents with children age 14 and under.
Seventy-nine percent of respondents allowed children under 9 to cross the street alone and 44 percent said children under 5 weren't always supervised in the bathtub.
Nearly all parents surveyed said they had installed smoke detectors in their homes, but 67 percent said they don't check the batteries every month. Of those with guns in the home, 59 percent said firearms are not locked away from children.
The survey's margin of error was 3.4 percentage points.
Although more attention is paid to the threat to children posed by drugs and violence, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, the campaign's chairman, said preventing injury should be a priority.
About 7,200 children died from accidents last year, Koop said. But for every child killed, about seven suffered serious injuries.
``If we focus on death alone, we miss the major point,'' he said. ``Actually, the death of a child in many instances is easier for people to face than a lifelong disorder of a very crippling nature.''
Other findings:
Most parents either didn't know the temperature of the water running from their faucets or said that it is above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which could scald a youngster.
More than one-third of parents did not safely store cleansers and other hazardous household substances out of children's reach.
by CNB