Parents should remind their children of basic road safety instructions as longer evenings herald a 20 per cent rise in deaths and serious injuries among children*, says The AA Motoring Trust.
Emphasis on safe journeys to and from school, and dark winter evenings, tends to hide the fact that 80 per cent of child deaths and serious injuries happen outside the school day, mainly when the youngsters are playing.
AA Motoring Trust research shows that a third of children injured while walking or playing are alone at the time, and only 1 in 10 are with an adult. Boys have nearly twice as many accidents as girls when they are walking or playing, and five times more accidents while riding bicycles.
It is indicative of the need to keep reminding youngsters of the Think! Road safety message that a third of children injured while crossing the road say that they did not stop before they stepped off the kerb. And many say that they did not look before crossing.
"Children like to play out in the summer, and parents like them to go out too, but the road accident/risk doesn't go away. Advice needs to be given, and rules made, to keep them safe," says Andrew Howard, head of road safety for The AA Motoring Trust.
"Road accidents are most likely to happen in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Efforts to improve safety need to be prioritised in these areas."
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NOTES: May and June, when lighter evenings allow children to start staying out longer, are the months when the numbers of fatal and serious accidents involving children peak.
Killed/serious injury accident peaks were for:
2000: May – 561
2001: May – 554
2002: May – 442
2003: June – 400.
When child accidents happen (Killed and serious injury accidents by hour of day and night)
(Source: Analysis by the Transport Research Laboratory of Road Accidents: Great Britain 2001)
Killed and serious injury accidents by period of day:
Going to school (7am to 9am) – girls = 155, boys = 215
At school (9am to 3pm) – girls = 342, boys = 750
Going home (3pm to 5pm) – girls = 452, boys = 845
Evening playtime (until 9pm) – girls = 586, boys = 1,216
Three golden rules for keeping children safe:
1) Set a good example and surpervise them well;
2) Teach them and talk to them about roads and safety regularly – not just once;
3) Know where your children are and when they are coming back.
The Think! Campaign advice leaflet on child safety is available at:
Visit the Think! Road safety website
*Statistics quoted in the press release are taken from The AA Motoring Trust report "The Facts About Road Accidents and Children" (Feb 2003). The report studied children aged 15 years and under. The report is available in the Child Safety Section.
