Twenty four children are killed or injured on West Midlands roads every week
Brake, the road safety charity, is calling for 20mph speed limits to be implemented around all schools in the UK
Figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show that 11,580 children aged 15 or under were killed or injured on roads in the UK in 2021.
Brake, the road safety charity, is calling for 20mph speed limits to be implemented around all schools in the UK, as parents report roads aren’t safe for their children to walk to school.
Today (Wednesday) more than 110,000 children (aged 4-11) from more than 720 schools and nurseries are taking part in Brake's Kids Walk today calling for their right to make safe and healthy journeys without fear or threat from traffic.
What does the picture look like in the West Midlands?
In the West Midlands, an average of 1,251 children have been killed or injured on the roads. This means that 24 children die or suffer injuries as a result of road crashes every single week.
Across the region, the greatest number of casualties in 2021 occurred in Birmingham, which recorded 290 children killed or injured.
Lucy Straker, campaigns manager at Brake, says: “Sadly, we know that Dropmore’s situation is being replicated across the country.
"We speak to lots of schools where teachers are doing everything they can to make the roads near their school safe, but ultimately they need support from their local council and decision-makers. Why do we have to wait until a child is killed before we act?
“We know that excess speed is a factor in about a quarter of fatal crashes 5, and the physics is pretty straightforward: the faster a vehicle is travelling, the harder it hits and the greater the impact.
"A crash at 30mph has twice the amount of kinetic energy as a crash at 20mph. Reducing speed saves lives.
“As schools up and down the country take part in Brake’s Kids Walk to shout out for safe places to walk, with slow traffic, we’re calling for roads around every school to have 20mph speed limits – and other measures to effectively reduce traffic speed – so children and their families can travel safely to and from school every day.”