This article summarizes 15 years of pediatric injury mortality data for 1980-1994 and describes major trends in types of injury death. During this study period 12,086 LAC children died from injury-related deaths, representing over 250 school buses full of children. During most of the 1980s, risk of unintentional injury death was greater than intentional injury death risk.
Intentional injuries continue to increase relative to unintentional injuries.
Several factors influence this trend. From 1989 to 1994, there was a consistent downward trend in number of unintentional injury deaths, primarily because yearly motor vehicle fatalities decreased. Concurrently, intentional injury deaths rose, primarily from rises in firearm-related homicides. This may be due in large part to increased seat belt and car seat use among children and addition of air bags in vehicles. However, motor vehicle-related deaths continue to be excessive and unnecessary.