The researchers looked at whether skateboarders wore elbow and knee pads. (iStock)

The entertainment industry has improved its portrayals of walking, cycling and boating in movies aimed at children, but half of scenes still show risky behaviour, U.S. researchers found.

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children in Canada and the U.S. Previous studies have found movies marketed to children rarely portrayed safety measures such as wearing seatbelts, so the researchers set out to test if depictions have improved.

Jon Eric Tongren of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his colleagues reviewed the top-grossing movies rated for general audiences or parental guidance per year from 2003 to 2007.

In Monday's online issue of the journal Pediatrics, the study's authors reported:

• 22 of 958 scenes depicting children or adults involved crashes or falls, resulting in three injuries and no deaths.
• 75 per cent of boaters wore personal flotation devices.
• 56 per cent of motor vehicle passengers were belted.
• 35 per cent of pedestrians used crosswalks.
• 25 per cent of bicyclists wore helmets.

In the 2003 Christmas movie Elf, for example, actor Will Ferrell gets knocked down by a taxi while crossing the street. He gets back up without a scratch, but at least he was was walking in a crosswalk.

Tongren said the scene minimizes the accident's dangers and may give young children a false sense of safety.

Two years later, in the 2005 comedy Yours, Mine and Ours, about a family with 18 childen, the youngsters wore life-jackets during a boat trip, but their parents did not.

Half of scenes show unsafe practices

During the same time period as the study, seatbelt use in the U.S. population was 82 per cent, and bicycle helmet use by children was estimated at 41 per cent in 2003.

"The entertainment industry has improved the depiction of selected safety practices in G- and PG-rated movies. However, approximately one-half of scenes still depict unsafe practices, and the consequences of these behaviours are rarely shown," the study said.

Unsafe practices included not wearing elbow and knee pads when skateboarding.

The improvement in safety depictions may have reflected changes in societal norms, and the efforts of advocacy and trade industry groups following the publication of previous study findings, the team said.

Joan Graves, ratings chief at the Motion Picture Association of America, agreed movies tend to reflect what's going in real life. The introduction of widespread seatbelt laws, helmet use and awareness about dangers of drunken driving are cultural trends that have affected movie plot lines, Graves said.

The study's authors called on the entertainment industry to continue to improve on its safety depictions in children's movies, and for parents to highlight the unsafe behaviours.

Movies or scenes were excluded if they were animated, not set in the present, or were fantasy, documentary or not in English.

With files from The Associated Press