A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brightly asserts that child fatalities stemming from motor vehicle accidents are down 43 percent over the last decade.

But of course, the Columbia, South Carolina personal injury lawyers of Matthews & Megna, LLC know there is a lot more to this story.

You may recall just recently the car accident death of a 7-year-old in Sumter County. The South Carolina Highway Patrol reports it happened around 7 a.m. on a Monday, when a Mazda and a Saturn collided on the highway. The Mazda driver was unhurt, but the man in the Saturn was injured, as was an 8-year-old passenger. The 7-year-old in that car was pronounced dead at the scene.

All had been wearing their seat belts, authorities say, and the crash remains under investigation.

The fact is, traffic collisions remain the top cause of fatalities for children who are under 4 and also for kids between the ages of 8 and 14. They are one of the leading causes for kids of all ages.

In South Carolina, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports there were 31 child traffic deaths in our state in 2011, the last year for which finalized figures are available. Of those, eight were between the ages of 1 and 3; seven were between the ages of 4 and 7; and 16 were between the ages of 8 and 14.

We rank in the top 15 states in the nation for the number of child deaths attributed to motor vehicle crashes.

The South Carolina Budget and Control Board reports that while traffic deaths of children under the age of 5 have been on the decline here in the Palmetto State, they continue to be a leading cause of death for children in this age group.

The recent drop-off is partially attributed to stricter child safety restraint laws and better parental education of those requirements. Still, South Carolina has one of the most lax child restraint laws in the country. It is among 12 other states that only require child safety restraints up to age 5. The majority of other states require them until age 6 or 7. Two states, Tennessee and Wyoming, require them until the child reaches 8 years-of-age.

About one-third of the 9,000 children who were killed in traffic crashes from 2002 through 2011 weren’t wearing a proper safety restraint, the CDC reports. Among black children, that figure was 45 percent. Among Hispanic children, that figure was 46 percent.

The study did not further explore why these racial differences were so pronounced, though the authors did suggest that socio-economic factors may play a role.

This is troubling, of course, but it also means that the majority of parents are buckling their children the right way. Seat belt use overall increased from 88 percent in 2002 to 91 percent in 2011 among children 7 and under.

Where researchers identified the biggest lapse was among older children, between the ages of 8 and 14. South Carolina statistics bear out those findings as well.

Properly belting in your child won’t prevent a fatigued trucker or drunk driver from causing a collision. It can, however, give your child a fighting chance for survival in the face of a serious motor vehicle collision.

Call Matthews & Megna in Columbia, SC today at 877-253-7705 or visit www.matthewsandmegna.com for a free consultation.