Road safety experts are alarmed by increase in road traffic casualties among children under eight, girls in particular, following the release today of the AXA car insurance 995 RoadSafe ‘Facts about road accidents and children’ report.
In the ten years since the publication of the1459 AA Motoring Trust report into child accident rates, 32,849 children have been killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads.
The AXA report, which is produced in conjunction with RoadSafe - a group of the country's leading authorities on road safety - aims to identify ways to improve the road safety standards for children in the UK rather than simply to highlight issues.
Committed to safety on the road, AXA car insurance has joined forces with RoadSafe, Road Safety GB,5227 Road Safety Analysis, The Good Schools Guide and Colas to improve the road safety standards for children in the UK.
The report identifies a number of key findings relating to children and road safety and aims to highlight the issues and challenges being faced by children on today's roads so that AXA and its partners can develop ongoing road safety campaigns to help reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured on our roads.
Adrian Walsh, founder of road safety lobbying group RoadSafe, commented: "Parents often ask for guidance on how best to keep their children safe on our roads. They need to know when and where they may be at risk, whether travelling in cars, walking, cycling or playing. This report helps to put these risks into context."
James Barclay of AXA car insurance commented: "AXA is passionate about road safety and the number of children at risk during their journeys to and from school remains far too high. We all have a role to play in helping to bring down these casualty numbers. We hope that the new information we are making available to parents and schools will help to develop an increased level of understanding of the factors that are contributing to these numbers and ultimately bring them down."
In its response to the report, the UK’s6187 Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is asking the UK government and car makers to make pedestrian-friendly car fronts a top priority, saying the government should be taking the lead in lobbying the 1690 European Commission and car manufacturers to make radical changes so that vulnerable road users can get the same five star protection as those sitting in the vehicle.
IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “While the people in the car are much safer, in the case of a crash with a child pedestrian or cyclist, the front of the car is not as forgiving. Much more can and should be done through car design to minimise the damage caused by hard metal on soft tissue.”
In the ten years since the publication of the
The AXA report, which is produced in conjunction with RoadSafe - a group of the country's leading authorities on road safety - aims to identify ways to improve the road safety standards for children in the UK rather than simply to highlight issues.
Committed to safety on the road, AXA car insurance has joined forces with RoadSafe, Road Safety GB,
The report identifies a number of key findings relating to children and road safety and aims to highlight the issues and challenges being faced by children on today's roads so that AXA and its partners can develop ongoing road safety campaigns to help reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured on our roads.
Adrian Walsh, founder of road safety lobbying group RoadSafe, commented: "Parents often ask for guidance on how best to keep their children safe on our roads. They need to know when and where they may be at risk, whether travelling in cars, walking, cycling or playing. This report helps to put these risks into context."
James Barclay of AXA car insurance commented: "AXA is passionate about road safety and the number of children at risk during their journeys to and from school remains far too high. We all have a role to play in helping to bring down these casualty numbers. We hope that the new information we are making available to parents and schools will help to develop an increased level of understanding of the factors that are contributing to these numbers and ultimately bring them down."
In its response to the report, the UK’s
IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “While the people in the car are much safer, in the case of a crash with a child pedestrian or cyclist, the front of the car is not as forgiving. Much more can and should be done through car design to minimise the damage caused by hard metal on soft tissue.”
