Skip to main content

Rise in number of children in serious road accidents, new report reveals

Road safety experts are alarmed by increase in road traffic casualties among children under eight, girls in particular, following the release today of the AXA car insurance RoadSafe ‘Facts about road accidents and children’ report. In the ten years since the publication of the AA Motoring Trust report into child accident rates, 32,849 children have been killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads. The AXA report, which is produced in conjunction with RoadSafe - a group of the country's leading authoritie
June 18, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
Road safety experts are alarmed by increase in road traffic casualties among children under eight, girls in particular, following the release today of the AXA car insurance 995 RoadSafe ‘Facts about road accidents and children’ report.

In the ten years since the publication of the 1459 AA Motoring Trust report into child accident rates, 32,849 children have been killed or seriously injured on Britain's roads.

The AXA report, which is produced in conjunction with RoadSafe - a group of the country's leading authorities on road safety - aims to identify ways to improve the road safety standards for children in the UK rather than simply to highlight issues.

Committed to safety on the road, AXA car insurance has joined forces with RoadSafe, Road Safety GB, 5227 Road Safety Analysis, The Good Schools Guide and Colas to improve the road safety standards for children in the UK.

The report identifies a number of key findings relating to children and road safety and aims to highlight the issues and challenges being faced by children on today's roads so that AXA and its partners can develop ongoing road safety campaigns to help reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured on our roads.

Adrian Walsh, founder of road safety lobbying group RoadSafe, commented: "Parents often ask for guidance on how best to keep their children safe on our roads. They need to know when and where they may be at risk, whether travelling in cars, walking, cycling or playing.  This report helps to put these risks into context."

James Barclay of AXA car insurance commented: "AXA is passionate about road safety and the number of children at risk during their journeys to and from school remains far too high. We all have a role to play in helping to bring down these casualty numbers.  We hope that the new information we are making available to parents and schools will help to develop an increased level of understanding of the factors that are contributing to these numbers and ultimately bring them down."

In its response to the report, the UK’s 6187 Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) is asking the UK government and car makers to make pedestrian-friendly car fronts a top priority, saying the government should be taking the lead in lobbying the 1690 European Commission and car manufacturers to make radical changes so that vulnerable road users can get the same five star protection as those sitting in the vehicle.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “While the people in the car are much safer, in the case of a crash with a child pedestrian or cyclist, the front of the car is not as forgiving. Much more can and should be done through car design to minimise the damage caused by hard metal on soft tissue.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • IAM shocked by the worst speeders in England and Wales
    February 12, 2015
    The UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has lifted the lid on the worst examples of excessive speeding caught on safety cameras across England and Wales in 2014. Britain’s two worst speeders were caught at 146mph, both by Kent Police on the M25, one travelling anti-clockwise, the other going clockwise. There were three other recorded instances of speeds of 140mph or more; 145mph on the M6 toll road (70mph limit), 141mph on the A1 Great Ponton Northbound road (70mph limit) and 140mph on the A5 C
  • Road signs removed to reduce ‘clutter’
    January 4, 2013
    In a response to a move to remove unnecessary clutter in cities and rural areas, more than 9,000 road traffic signs have been taken down in England, where local councils have been urged to think more creatively about the number and location of their location. Ministers have warned that excessive signs can be a distraction to motorists and make roads appear unattractive. In October 2011, the requirement for certain road signs was lifted; the government plans to give councils more discretion over where they p
  • High-mileage drivers more dismissive value of speed cameras, says survey
    July 27, 2015
    High-mileage drivers are more likely than any other type of road user to think speed cameras have ‘little or no influence’ in reducing the numbers of road casualties in the UK, according to a white paper issued by the Institute of Advanced Motorists’ (IAM) Drive and Survive division. The paper, Speed Cameras – The Views of High Mileage Drivers, also found 28 per cent of high-mileage drivers have a negative view of speed cameras – 10 per cent more than other drivers. It also found that more than half o
  • Need for balance on UK speed enforcement funding cuts
    February 2, 2012
    Trevor Ellis, Chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the implications of the UK Government's decision to withdraw funding for road safety camera partnerships