Lancashire drivers urged to respect speed limits to reduce child injuries and fatalities
Figures from 'Brake' reveal over 400 children, under 7-years-old, were either killed or injured in crashes across the North West in 2023
There are fresh warnings for drivers across Lancashire to make sure their driving isn't putting children at risk - after a rise in children being harmed.
Road safety charity Brake, which issued the plea, said 17 children aged seven and under died and 574 suffered serious injuries in crashes across the country in 2023.
The figures show the equivalent of nine children a day are injured or killed on our roads.
Over 400 children were killed or hurt across the North West in 2023.
The figures are based on analysis of Department for Transport (DfT) data.
Brake also revealed that child fatalities are involved in around 7% of cases where its road crash victim support service is used.
The charity is running an initiative today named Beep Beep! Day which will see more than 90,000 children aged between two and seven given road safety messages by schools, nurseries and childminders.
Ross Moorlock, chief executive of Brake, said: "As grown ups, we must always take responsibility for keeping children safe on our roads but this is a great opportunity to start conversations about road danger and help them understand why road safety is so important.
"We see, every day, the devastating effects of road crashes on families, through the work of our national road victim service, which this month is supporting 60 families following the death of a child in a road crash.
"It's shocking that the number of children who have been killed or seriously injured in road crashes has risen in recent years.
"At Brake, we are doing everything we can to prevent road death and injury, and we will continue to campaign for the solutions that we know will make our journeys safer, whoever we are and however we travel.
"We call on the Government to issue its long-awaited road safety strategy with urgency, with evidence-based measures to end road death and injury."
The DfT was approached for a comment.
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