Health Status > Adolescents
|
ADOLESCENT MORTALITY
from traffic and firearm injuries
|
The two leading mechanisms of injury deaths
among adolescents are motor vehicle crashes and firearms.
In 2004, motor vehicle traffic caused the deaths of 5,113
adolescents 15 to 19 years of age. The vast majority of
those killed were in motor vehicle accidents as either a
passenger or driver. Deaths of pedestrians, motorcyclists,
and others accounted for the remainder of motor vehicle
mortality among adolescents.
Results of the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior
Survey revealed that 10.2 percent of high school students
had rarely or never worn seat belts when riding in a car
driven by someone else. Additionally, in the 30 days preceding
the survey, 28.5 percent of students had ridden on one or
more occasions with a driver who had been drinking alcohol.
In 2004, 2,494 adolescents aged 15 to
19 years were killed by firearms. Of these, homicide accounted
for 65 percent of firearm deaths, suicide accounted for
32 percent, and 3 percent were considered unintentional.
>
Horizontal Bar Chart: Adolescent Mortality from
Traffic and Firearm Injuries: 2004
|
|