PRESS RELEASE
From Brake, the
road safety charity, PO Box 548Huddersfield, HD1 2XZ
Lynne Jones MP backs Road Safety Week
Lynne
Jones MP is calling on
drivers in Selly Oak to stop putting
child pedestrians’ lives at risk by speeding in residential areas.
Lynne Jones
is making this plea during Road Safety Week 2003, which is raising awareness of child
pedestrian deaths and injuries and the unacceptable levels of fear children experience on
a daily basis when faced with speeding traffic in around their schools and homes. The
theme of the Week is ‘Save the life of a child – slow down.’
The
results of a SHOCKING road safety survey of 1,500 7-14 year old children conducted at
schools across the country is being released by Brake, the road safety charity. Brake runs
Road Safety Week with support from the Department for Transport, Department for Education
and Skills and high street names Direct Line, Green Flag, Renault and Sainsbury’s.
A REGIONAL BREAKDOWN OF THESE SURVEY RESULTS IS
AVAILABLE TO JOURNALISTS IN DIFFERENT REGIONS, ALONG WITH A REGIONAL BREAKDOWN OF NEW
STATISTICS FROM THE GOVERNMENT SHOWING THE LATEST LEVELS OF DEATHS AND INJURIES OF
CHILDREN ON FOOT ON ROADS.
Nationally, the survey found that:
§
75%
of children want MORE SPEED CAMERAS
§
HALF
of children describe the road outside their school as DANGEROUS
§
HALF
of children say they need a SAFER PLACE TO
CROSS outside their school
§
70%
of children think drivers should GO SLOWER near
their school
§
ONE IN THREE children say the road outside their
home is DANGEROUS
An
alarmingly high number of children say they have been hit by a vehicle, or narrowly
escaped being hit, when on foot:
§
10%
of children say they HAVE BEEN HIT by a vehicle
while on foot
§
38%
say they have NEARLY BEEN HIT
§
59%
of children KNOW SOMEONE who has been
killed or hurt in a crash, causing untold trauma to those children
Shockingly,
in 2002, 83 children were killed on foot across the UK. Drivers on roads without speed
enforcement continue to drive too fast and kill children. More than half of drivers - 59% - still break 30mph
limits in residential areas, according to statistics released by the Department for
Transport.
Slowing down by only a few miles an
hour can make the difference between life and death. At 35mph a driver is twice as likely
to kill a child they hit, compared with at 30mph. In heavily built-up areas and near
schools it is vital to travel at a speed of 20mph or lower.
Lynne Jones MP said: “Getting up
speed in residential areas and then having to
decelerate sharply at junctions saves drivers in a hurry very little, if any, time and, as
well as adding to the dangers faced by children and other pedestrians, is likely to cause
unnecessary stress for the driver. It is time
to consider whether the norm in side streets should be 20mph.”
Mary
Williams OBE, chief executive of Brake, said: “These
survey findings are no surprise given our appalling record of child pedestrian fatalities,
and are terrible news for all parents who want a safe and happy environment for their
children. We need urgent, extensive investment in more road safety engineering solutions
and traffic enforcement to enable our most precious resource, our children, to walk to
school and around their homes free from danger on the roads.”
FOR ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES, CONTACT BEN HEATLEY OR SARAH FATICA ON 01484
559909 OR MOBILE 07989 515 722 OR 07989 478436.
