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To quote from the Report "Since December, 1947, no children
have been killed in Hampstead road accidents. In the under 5 year age
group 11 children were injured but the majority of these accidents should
never have happened. For example: —
7 children were injured stepping, walking or running off the
footpath. Of these 5 were unaccompanied by an older person, 2
were accompanied, but escaped from the supervision of an older
person.
The lowest accident totals are reported in the winter months when
children are less on the streets, but the tragic fact is that during the
summer months very young children are allowed to wander and play in
the streets unattended."
The report points out that care in crossing road junctions by drivers
and care in stepping off the pavement and avoidance of crossing the
road from behind a stationary vehicle by pedestrians would diminish the
number of accidents. In 1952, 158 (out of the total of 375) were so
caused.
Home accidents.
Despite the fact that industrial and road accidents are intensively
studied they form only a small proportion of the total number of
accidents, the majority of which occur in the home. It is very difficult
to obtain precise figures about these accidents for unless they are fatal
they are not reported. By the co-operation of the Superintendent of New
End Hospital and the Secretary of the Hampstead General Hospital, it
has been possible to search through their records and obtain details of
all the cases of accidents (from all causes) admitted to Hampstead
hospitals in 1952. These figures only give an indication of the number
of serious accidents in the Borough in any year for they do not include
the injuries treated by general practitioners or by doctors at the outpatient
department of hospitals. The death certificates for 1950, 1951
and 1952 have been examined and those deaths due to accidents have
been included in the analysis.
Results of the Survey.
Total numbers sex and age distribution.
In 1952 there were 23 fatal accidents registered in Hampstead compared
with 27 in 1951 and 38 in 1950. During 1952, 233 persons were
admitted to New End Hospital and, 82 cases to Hampstead General
Hospital. The sex and age distribution of these cases is shown in
Table III, together with the sex and age distribution of the population
of Hampstead at the time of the census in 1951.