Road accidents represent an important risk for children, would they be pedestrians, cyclists or car passengers. In France, 646 children under 15 years old have been killed in 1984. In order to specify the real distribution of risks, the circumstances and the lesional consequences of accidents, an epi—demiological investigation has been set up at Marseille Nord Hospital in the pediatric surgery department.

The analysis of the sample gathered during more than 2½ years shows the high frequency of head injuries :​ child car passengers suffered the most serious ones. At the second rank for frequency and severity were the injuries to lower and upper limbs suffered by child pedestrians and two-wheelers. The insight to severe head injuries confirms the greater propensity of children for recovering from skull and brain lesions than adults.