Devon has highest number of child road casualties in South West
Around 2,400 school children from across the South West took to the streets to raise awareness of the issue
Around 2,400 school children from across the South West took to the streets around their school on Wednesday (16 June) to raise awareness of the 24 children who are killed or injured on the region's roads every week.
The children, aged between four and 11, are among more than 50,000 across the UK who are taking part in Brake's Kids Walk with Shaun the Sheep. The national project, run by the road safety charity Brake in partnership with insurance company esure, sees Shaun and his flock help youngsters learn key road safety messages and call on their grown-ups to make roads safer, so more children can enjoy the health and planet-saving benefits of walking, scooting or cycling to school.
To coincide with the launch of the walk, road safety charity Brake has highlighted the true extent of child casualties on South West roads.
Latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures1 for 2019 show that Devon consistently records the highest road child casualty figures in the region, with an average of 194 per year - although in 2019 the county recorded its lowest figure in five years of 160.
Schools and nurseries from the region are joining the nationwide campaign, calling for five key measures to enable children to make safe and healthy journeys: footpaths, cycle paths, safe places to cross, slow traffic and clean traffic.
Short, supervised walks took place on 16 June at or around schools and nurseries. Children walked in a crocodile formation and held hands to highlight the importance of being able to walk without fear or threat from traffic.
Scott Williams, head of programme delivery at Brake, said:
"It's every child's right to be able to walk in their community without fear of traffic and pollution. Throughout the pandemic families have taken to the streets on foot and by bike and we hope these activities will continue as restrictions lift and ordinary road traffic returns.
"It is vital that children are able to walk safely in the places where they live. Although numbers of children killed or injured in the South West shows positive signs of decline, every road death or injury is one too many and causes devastation for families, schools and communities. This year we hope to inspire as many children, schools and families as possible to call for safe and healthy journeys for children through our Brake's Kids Walk event."