In a toddler's world, busy roadways are playgrounds, poison pellets look like Life Savers, extension cords become necklaces and matches are treated as pencils.

Medical and child safety officials say while childproofing homes and cars should be a priority among parents and caregivers, nothing beats constant supervision of 1- to 3-year-old children who have grown to walk -- and run -- around at lightening speeds.

A 2-1/2-year-old girl was left in critical condition after running out onto a major highway and getting struck by a tractor-trailer in Bamberg in late January. While the case is still under investigation, it brings attention to the importance of guarding against possible dangers to young children in and outside of the home.

"Toddlers are busy. In the blink of an eye, a child can get out of sight and out of sound. That's clearly what happened in this incident. Although adequate supervision can prevail, they're fast," said Kathy Funderburk, director of Safe Kids Coalition of Orangeburg, Bamberg and Calhoun Counties led by the Regional Medical Center and the RMC Foundation.

Safe Kids "addresses all issues of safety regarding children and promotes well-being for all the residents in the tri-county area," the pediatric nurse said. "Accidental injury is the number one killer of children from birth to 14."

She said while the Bamberg case involved a front-end accident, many more toddlers are actually being run over in rear-end accidents involving vehicles.

"Safe Kids Worldwide out of Washington, D.C., has put a tremendous emphasis on the fact that we are backing over children, and we are backing over the toddlers," Funderburk said. "Again, the reason is we think they're being supervised, but they're fast.

"Parents need to be extra vigilant about walking around their vehicles and making sure that they are aware that that toddler is in someone's hands before they are backing out. So many of these back-outs are in the home's driveway."

Funderburk said many individuals are as equally uneducated about the South Carolina Child Passenger Safety Seat Law and the ways to keep tots safe inside a car.

She said toddlers are supposed to be restrained in a convertible, forward-facing car seat placed in the middle of the back seat until they are 4 years old. Also under the law, a child younger than 6 years of age must not occupy a front passenger seat of a vehicle. This restriction does not apply if the motor vehicle does not have rear passenger seats or if other children younger than 6 occupy all rear passenger seats.

"Safest practice is that they can't be in the front seat until they're 12. Air bags deploy at more than 200 miles per hour. Children are jumping in and out of people's cars, and no attention is being paid to whether they're sitting in front of an active air bag or not," Funderburk said.

"A convertible car seat is good up to 40 to 42 pounds. That is a typical 4-year-old. Children are like popcorn in a car if they are not properly restrained," she said. "I think the coalition is working hard to educate. We have the third deadliest highways in the nation. ... Everyone runs such an increased risk of being involved in a collision and having a fatality be a part of it."

Dr. Tracy McPherson of The Pediatric Clinic in Orangeburg said poisonings and drownings are among the leading causes of death for children birth to 14 years of age. Safe Kids USA reports that the four leading causes of death from accidental injuries to children 14 and under are suffocation (19 percent), motor vehicle occupant injuries (16 percent), drownings (16 percent) and pedestrian incidents (11 percent).

"These are all unintentional, but easily preventable, deaths. Prevention and supervision is the number one way to prevent these things, of course, but accidents still happen. You can't anticipate anything," said McPherson, who stressed that parents and caregivers should always keep a list of emergency numbers on hand or in their home.

The national poison control hotline at 1-800-222-1222 should be one of them, she said. McPherson said parents should also program ICE, or In Case of Emergency, numbers in their cell phones so that if they are in a car or other accident with their child, emergency medical technicians who are trained to look for those numbers can find them.

"Most poisonings happen in the grandparents' home because grandparents have more medicines and keep them on counters to remind themselves to take them," McPherson said. "In emergency situations, you can't think properly and know which child is allergic to what. You have to have that prewritten out along with those emergency phone numbers."

When it comes to toddler safety, McPherson said parents should take the room-by-room approach. She said properly mounting stair gates and removing loose carpeting are among things parents can do to keep their tots out of danger.

"Doors and windows need to have proper locks on them. Each bedroom in itself has its own hazards, and hazards in the kitchen are different from those in the bathroom," McPherson said. "Childproofing the house is an ongoing process. This is not something you just do once."

The Web site KidsHealth.org offers a wealth of safety information on how to keep toddlers out of harm's way. Placing knob protectors on stove knobs, storing matches and lighters in a locked cabinet and keeping cabinets under the sink free of cleaning supplies, bug sprays and dishwasher detergent are among the safety tips parents can use in the kitchen. Tying window blinds and curtains with clothespins or specially designed cord clips and placing a window guard on every window that is not an emergency exit are among the safety measures that can be practiced in a child's bedroom.

McPherson said every child is different, particularly in terms of fine motor skill development and their level of curiosity and maturity. She said parents need to adjust to a particular child's needs.

"One child may be fascinated with outlets, and others may be fascinated with what's underneath the kitchen cabinets. It's an ongoing process as each individual child's developmental stage changes," McPherson said.

"The use of safety devices diminishes their opportunity for accidental injury; however, nothing replaces supervision," Funderburk said. "Falls are a phenomenal injury source for children. Whether it's falls from bikes, chairs or down stairs, falls constitute a rhapsody of accidental injury."

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

10 tips for safe kids

Toddlers are busy, fast and curious. Parents can guard against possible dangers by conducting a home safety evaluation from the child's point of view. Here are 10 steps Safe Kids USA recommends to parents that could have a major impact on their children's safety:

* Properly secure your children under age 13 in a back seat every time they ride in a car.

* Keep your children in the right type of car or booster seat until adult lap and shoulder belts fit them correctly.

* Make sure your children wear a helmet and other protective gear every time they ride a bike, skate, skateboard or ride a scooter.

* Teach your children to cross streets at corners and look left, right and left again before crossing. Make sure children younger than 10 always cross the street with an adult.

* Always keep your eyes on your children when they are playing in or near water.

* Always make sure your children wear life jackets when riding on boats or playing in or near open bodies of water.

* Install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors on every level of your home and outside of every sleeping area. Change the batteries once a year, and test them monthly.

* Do not place blankets, pillows or other soft items in a baby's crib. Keep small items such as toy parts, coins, buttons and beads away from children under age 3.

* Keep poisonous items, such as medicines and cleaners, locked away and out of reach of children.

* Do not let your children play on stairs, furniture, balconies, roofs, or in driveways, streets or parking lots.

The 14th annual Safe Kids Super Saturday

What: Safe Kids Super Saturday is an annual event sponsored by the Safe Kids Coalition of Orangeburg, Bamberg and Calhoun Counties, which is led by the Regional Medical Center and the RMC Foundation. Information about accident prevention and health will be provided, including free car seat safety checks.

When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 16

Where: Orangeburg County Fairgrounds

For more information, call O-B-C Safe Kids Coordinator Kathy Funderburk at 803-395-2822.

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