• 600 schools across the UK take part in Brake’s Kids Walk with Shaun the Sheep, supported by esure, on Wednesday 22 June 2022 – photo and filming opportunities available
  • Brake, the road safety charity, highlights the extent of road danger for children – 14,696 children under 16 killed or injured on UK roads every year
  • Children shout out for their right to make safe and healthy journeys on safe streets
  • Six children are killed or seriously injured on UK roads every day
  • South East has the greatest number of child casualties, with 1,312 in 2020 – breakdown data available by local authority area

Children aged between four and 11 are taking part in Brake’s Kids Walk with Shaun the Sheep. The national project, run by road safety charity Brake in partnership with insurance group esure and with support from Aardman, sees Shaun and his flock help youngsters learn key road safety messages and call on grown-ups to make roads safer so more children can enjoy the health and planet-saving benefits of walking, riding or scooting to school.

To coincide with the launch of the walk, Brake has highlighted the true extent of child casualties on the nation's roads (see Tables 1 and 2).

Latest official figures show that 10,125 children were killed or injured on roads in the UK in 2020; an average taken from the last five years gives a figure of 14,696. This means that, on average, 40 children die or suffer injuries as a result of road crashes every single day. Six children are killed or seriously injured every day on roads in the UK [1].

Department for Transport (DfT) figures for 2016–2020 show that on average 12,406 children aged 0–15 are killed or injured on roads in England annually. In Wales the average figure is 548 child road casualties while Scotland reports on average 788, and in Northern Ireland the average is 831.

Of all regions of the UK, the South East of England sees the greatest number of child road casualties (1,312 in 2020), with an average of 25 children killed or injured as a result of road crashes every week. The number has come down by 44% since 2016, when 2,343 children were killed or injured on roads in the South East. London has the next highest toll of child road casualties in the UK, with 1,227 reported in 2020, a decrease of 836 or 41% compared with 2016 (2,063).

Although the road casualty figures broadly correlate with population density [2], there are some notable exceptions: Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West England and the West Midlands all saw casualty rates higher than the national average (see Table 2). The lowest casualty rates per million population were seen in Scotland and Wales.

Reported road casualties have been impacted by the national restrictions implemented from March 2020 onwards following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

More than 90,000 children from over 600 schools and nurseries are taking part in Brake's Kids Walk, calling for their right to make safe and healthy journeys without fear or threat from traffic.

The children will take part in short, supervised walks at or around their schools and nurseries. 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: footpaths, cycle paths, safe places to cross, slow traffic and clean traffic.

Schools can also run special road-safety-themed assemblies, lessons and fun activities, using free resources from Brake and featuring Shaun the Sheep and his friends.

For the first time this year, Brake has provided schools with a Kids‘ manifesto for safe and healthy journeys that they can use to help them ask local or national decision-makers to address their local road dangers. The charity hopes to help children understand that their voice is important and empower them to ask grown-ups to keep them safe near roads, including through creation of safe spaces for them to walk and ride. The manifesto also calls for road safety to be included on the curriculum for all schoolchildren as there is currently no statutory guidance for teaching of road safety in schools [3].

Resources are available to any parent, carer or teacher to download for free at www.brake.org.uk/kidswalk. The event can also be used to fundraise for Brake, which supports families who have lost loved ones in road crashes.

Brake, the road safety charity, has been running walking events for schoolchildren at a national level for more than 15 years. The charity is also behind Road Safety Week – the UK’s biggest road safety campaign each November.

Brake’s Kids Walk 2022 is sponsored by esure and supported by Aardman.

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. It is vital that children can walk safely in the places where they live. We’re delighted that so many children, schools and families are taking part in Brake’s Kids Walk 2022 and shouting out for the things they need to make safe journeys.”

David McMillan, CEO at esure Group added: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Brake’s Kids Walk and to raise awareness of the importance of safer roads and cleaner air for schoolchildren across the UK. Brake’s Kids Walk is an important opportunity to raise awareness about road safety messages.”


References

1. Department for Transport (2021) Reported Road Casualties Great Britain Annual Report 2020. Table RAS30024

2. Population of the UK in 2020, by region

3. Brake (2020) Teaching safe and healthy mobility in schools

Table 1. Reported child road casualties for the UK by region, 2016-2020

Data shows the number of children aged 0-15 killed, seriously injured or slightly injured in road crashes in the 12 regions of the UK. Source: Department for Transport (DfT) and Police Service Northern Ireland road traffic statistics

Table 1

Table 2. Reported child road casualties for the UK by region, 2020

Data shows the number of children aged 0-15 killed, seriously injured or slightly injured in road crashes in the 12 regions of the UK, per million population, in 2020. Source: Department for Transport (DfT) and Police Service Northern Ireland road traffic statistics and reference 2.

Table 2
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