Injury Policy Research has shown that education alone is unlikely to have a long-lasting impact on people's behavior and thus, the occurrence of injuries. This is particularly true for children and adolescents. Young children are developmentally incapable of recognizing and evaluating the consequences of risk-taking. They are impulsive and cannot be trusted to exercise caution at all times. Children or their parents may not recognize potential hazards from toys, cribs, clothing, etc.
Adolescents seek independence by taking risks.
Thus, it is important for everyone to ensure the safety of children through policies and standards that minimize the risk of childhood injury. The ideal policy is a prudent course of action selected from among the alternatives to guide present and future decisions and behavior. It is an idea or plan of what to do in a particular situation that has been agreed to by a group of people, a business, or a government. Thus, although laws are policies, not all policies are laws. A committee of injury prevention experts has selected the policies selected for this series.