Safety and Injury

Jump to a section... Introduction Unintentional injury Regular use of seatbelts Use of child safety seats Drinking and driving Swimming and water safety classes Smoke detectors in homes Firearms in the home Domestic and intimate partner violence Domestic violence assault Direct care physician to population ratio Hospitalization rate for unintentional injury Age-adjusted mortality for unintentional injury Years of potential life lost (YPLL) due to unintentional injury Hospitalization rate for motor vehicle crashes Age-adjusted mortality for motor vehicle crashes Years of potential life lost (YPLL) due to motor vehicle crashes Homicide Age-adjusted mortality for homicide Years of potential life lost (YPLL) due to homicide

Firearms in the home

The 2004 or 2005 BRFSS did not collect information about the percent of homes with firearms, but this remains an import safety concern. In 2002 firearms were present in 28 percent of Bexar County homes. This was a reduction from 37 percent in 1998. The highest ownership of firearms is in the northern sectors. Thirty-eight percent of homes in the Northeast sector, and 28 percent in the North Central and Northwest have firearms. In the South sector, 19 percent and in the Southeast sector, 25 percent of residents report having firearms in the home. The West sector has the lowest reported rate, with 16 percent indicating they have firearms.

If firearms are kept in the home they should be kept in a locked place. Of the homes with firearms, only 63 percent have them in a locked place. There has been no change in the number of homes with firearms that have them in a locked place since 1998. The Healthy People 2010 goal is that 84 percent of homes with firearms would keep them in a locked secure place.

Domestic and intimate partner violence

Domestic violence includes all acts of violence, whether actual or threatened, that include physical, sexual, and/or psychological/emotional abuse perpetrated by a family member or intimate partner. The Healthy People 2010 goal is that no more than 3.3 percent of the population will be victims of domestic violence in a five-year period. The 2004 or 2005 BRFSS did not collect information about whether the respondent had been a victim of domestic violence in the past 5 years. Eleven percent of the respondents to the 2002 survey indicated that they had been the victim of this type abuse in the past five years.

Domestic violence assault

The rate for domestic violence assault is based on the number of calls to the San Antonio Police Department that resulted in a charge being filed against the perpetrator^∞. The 2004 San Antonio rate is 749 domestic violence assault charges per 100,000 population. This is an increase from 591 calls per 100,000 in 2000. It is interesting to note that the domestic violence assault rates follow the same pattern as the 2002 survey reports of domestic violence in the past 5 years. The highest rates are in the south Bexar County. The East sector had 1,169 domestic violence assault charges per 100,000 population, followed by 1,022 per 100,000 in the West, and 1,012 per 100,000 in the South. In the north, the Northwest sector had 664 domestic violence calls per 100,000 population. The North Central sector had 538 per 100,000 and the Northeast had 418 per 100,000. Recent increases may be due to increased reporting of domestic violence and due to improved community awareness efforts by the Bexar County Family Justice Center, the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative, Family Violence Prevention Services and others in the community concerned about this issue.

The domestic violence rate map shows the available data from the San Antonio Police Department and the rates are for the area within the jurisdiction of the city. The “far” areas of the county lack data on domestic violence because they are outside the jurisdiction of SAPD. Areas like the East and far Southeast are partly covered by SAPD, the rate is low because domestic violence calls outside San Antonio are recorded by another jurisdictions and not available for this report.