Scooters Top The List Of Dangerous Toys

Having a toy to play with can be a fun and beneficial for any child. Yet did you know that some can be dangerous?

Recent findings published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics shows that scooters in particular are the number one leading cause of toy-related injuries in the country.

A scooter is a collapsible, lightweight form of transportation that can make getting places easy but is often not the safest route of transportation, according to health officials. Those who examined toy-related injuries from 1990 to 2011 found that scooters could be tied to increasing the injury rates by up to 40 percent, with falls linked to the most common type of injury followed by collisions. Other ride-on-toys, including wagons and tricycles, have also contributed to increased rates of injuries.

The study specifically looked at children under the age of 18 and was the first nationally representative long-term look at toy-related injuries published by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) annual report.

"The type of toy that seemed to be driving the increase were foot-powered scooters," said Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and coauthor of the study, according to USA Today. "Starting in 1999, when the new style of scooter was introduced, they became more popular and injuries became more common."

Findings revealed that from 1990 to 2011, hospital emergency room cases related to these toys increased from 121, 249 to 195,363. Furthermore, the number of children injured by the toys also rose from 18.9 per 10,000 in 1990 to about 26.9 per 10,000 children in 2011.

Other toys that continue to cause problems among children include toy guy and toy food.

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