 Pacific children are seven times more likely to be injured as pedestrians than other children.
 This applies especially to Pacific children under 10 years of age and based in the Auckland urban area.
 Each year 80 Pacific children are hospitalised as a result of road accidents, either as passengers or pedestrians
 There is a lack of awareness within the Pacific community about the high child pedestrian injury rates. Pedestrian safety is not seen as a road safety issue at this point.
 On a quiet road it’s seen as okay for children to play on the road. Often there are many children gathered so they are thought to be safer. Children playing on or near the road often involve members of several families. Supervision is often the responsibility of older children.
 Young children are particularly at risk when hit by a car – a healthy adult has a 50% chance of being killed if hit at 45 km/h, but for a child the risk of death is higher. An adult will be impacted about the legs and thrown onto or over the car, but a child will be impacted at torso level and dragged underneath.
 A high pedestrian casualty rate in an area indicates drivers in the vicinity are travelling too fast for the conditions. The majority of drivers involved in crashes live not far from the crash site, so the speeding drivers are likely to be local.
 Speeding drivers are typically young males.
 As with the Tua safety belt/restraint campaign, the ‘role model’ approach is being used. Campaign advertising features well known Pacific entertainers and sportspeople such as Bernice Mene, Che Fu, Tana Umaga and Ma-v-elle.

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