Drivers and pedestrians need to take care on our roads at all times. Our children can often act on impulse and need to develop their risk handling skills.

Key Facts

Children often take drivers by surprise and fall into a vulnerable group, as shown by the following statistics:

• in 2009, the number of children aged 0 –15 killed or seriously injured (KSI) on UK roads was 2,671 – 5% lower than in 2008
• around two out of every three of these casualties were boys (1,757 boys to 914 girls)
• the majority of these child casualties are pedestrians (1,660, accounting for 62% of the total in 2009)
• compared with 2008, there was a 7% fall in child pedestrian KSI causalities, a 6% fall in car occupant KSI casualties but a 10% increase in child pedal cyclist KSI casualties from 2008
• child pedestrian fatalities fell by 35% to 37 in 2009, and 7% of all pedestrian fatalities were children

Sadly, the predominant child age group for KSI casualties is 12 – 15 years, nearly three times more than any other child age group, at 1,261. This is a transitional age when children's journeys tend to become longer and unaccompanied by parents/guardians as they move on from primary school to secondary school.

Support

Children can be supported on road safety skills through influential groups, primarily parents/guardians and then schools, councils, and community schemes.

All of these groups can help children develop awareness and judgment skills by explaining how roads should be used, pointing out the hazards and precautions.

With more young children having access to media than ever before, there are some good road safety websites with inter active games and videos which provide advice and tips on how to protect children.

There is also an online game involving a  fantasy virtual reality world, which would be particularly useful for the transitional age group from primary to secondary school. It's called Code of Everand, and is at www.codeofeverand.co.uk

Top tips

• make sure your child walks with you on the side of the pavement (restrained depending upon age, it is recommended you hold the hand of a child in a traffic situation)
• find a safe place to cross with full visibility along the length of the road, preferably a pedestrian crossing facility
• whilst on the road teach the Green Cross Code: STOP!  LOOK! LISTEN!  
  Stop one step back from the kerb, look and listen for traffic, decide whether it is safe to cross, keep looking and listening during the crossing
• for children to be seen they should wear bright or reflective clothing, particularly at night
• older independent children when leaving the home should be reminded   about road safety
• remind your child   not to be distracted when crossing roads by eating or drinking using mobile phones, listening to stereos or talking – they need to have 100% attention and always use the green cross code
• using assisted wheels such as roller blades, skates, skate boards, wheels on trainers should be restricted to the pavement and not used when crossing roads
• children should get in   and out of the car on the kerb side
• getting off a bus – wait until the bus has gone  ( as the  bus can hit a child as it moves off  and it also causes an obstruction to a clear view of the road ) and then find a safe place to  cross
• if forced to walk on the road because there is no pavement, it is recommended to walk on the side of the road facing oncoming traffic

Source for statistics: The Department for Transport report published September 2010 for Great Britain

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