Calls for 20mph speed limits around North Yorkshire schools due to deaths
More than 100 children across the county are killed or seriously injured every year
It has been revealed an average of 27 children die or suffer serious injuries across Yorkshire and the Humber every week.
Brake, the road safety charity, is calling for 20mph speed limits to be implemented around all schools in the UK, as parents report roads are not safe for their children to walk to school.
According to new research published by Brake, parents and carers across the country say they do not walk their children to school every day because roads are too busy (36%) and cars go too fast (25%). Nearly two-thirds (64%) of parents say their school doesn’t have 20mph speed limits on all surrounding roads.
Figures
Latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures show that 1,275 children under the age of 16 were killed or injured on Yorkshire and Humber roads in 2021; an average taken from the last five years gives a figure of 1,380. This means that, on average, 27 children die or suffer injuries as a result of road crashes every single week.
This is also an increase on the 2020 number of child road casualties, which may reflect an increase in road traffic following the lifting of travel restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
Bradford had the greatest number of casualties in 2021 but Leeds has the greatest average each year between 2017 and 2021.
Most local authorities in Yorkshire and Humber saw a rise in child road casualties in 2021. East Riding of Yorkshire saw the biggest percentage reduction (15%) in the number of child casualties on its roads in 2021, compared with 2020 figures.
York recorded the lowest numbers of child casualties overall (26), and Calderdale recorded 39 child road casualties. By comparison, Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, and North Yorkshire (excluding York) recorded more than 100 child deaths or injuries on roads in 2021, with a rise in the number of casualties in all four areas.
Brake's Kids Walk
More than 110,000 children (aged 4-11) from more than 720 schools and nurseries are taking part in Brake's Kids Walk today (Wednesday 14th June 2023), calling for their right to make safe and healthy journeys without fear or threat from traffic.
They will complete a short, supervised walk around their schools and/or communities. They will carry banners and posters, provided by Brake, to help raise awareness of the five things they need to help keep them safe near roads: slower traffic, cleaner traffic, better footpaths, better cycle paths, and safe places to cross.
Lucy Straker, campaigns manager at Brake, says: “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.”
Resources are available to any parent, carer or teacher to download for free. The event can also be used to fundraise for Brake, which supports families who have lost loved ones in road crashes.