Thousands of schools, nurseries, playgroups and childminders have run a Beep Beep! Day each year since it’s inauguration in 2004. The project aims to engage tots and infants, aged 2-7, with road safety basics through fun activities, while raising awareness among parents and the wider community about protecting children on roads.

Since the charity launched the project in the UK 15 years ago, it has gone from strength to strength, with registrations now coming from all over the world, including Africa, Russia, Europe, Canada and New Zealand. Brake is also now a member of the UN Road Safety Collaboration.

On average, six children are killed or seriously injured on roads in Britain every day [1]. In December the World Health Organisation revealed that road crashes are the leading killer of children and young adults (aged 5-29) globally [2].

Last year more than 305,000 children are estimated to have taken part, with 350,000 kids registered to have participated in a Beep Beep! Day the year before. The support from Churchill Car Insurance, enables Brake to produce free and low-cost resources for educators to use, as well as advice for them to pass on to grown ups.

This year the project will take place on three national dates – Wednesday 20 March, Wednesday 17 July and Wednesday 20 November – although educators can also run a Beep Beep! Day on a date of their choice.

Beep Beep! Days also provide an ideal opportunity for nurseries, schools and childminders to fundraise for Brake, by encouraging children to dress in stripy clothes in support of the charity’s mascot Zak the Zebra. Funds raised help the charity to campaign for safer roads and support people who have been bereaved or seriously injured following a road crash.

Dave Nichols, community engagement manager at Brake, said: “It’s fantastic that we have been working with young children, and those who look after them, for 15 years. Some of those first infants we worked with in 2004 will now have young children of their own, and we’re still here to provide them with the knowledge they need to keep them safe. Beep Beep! Days are a great way to start talking to children about basic road safety messages, but they are also an ideal opportunity for us to get important messages home to grown ups. We look forward to helping even more of them again this year.”

Lucy Brooksbank, head of marketing, at Churchill Insurance, said: “We are very proud to have supported Brake and its Beep Beep! Day since the very beginning. The wide range of resources made available to those participating not only makes this a fun day, but a day that makes a difference and hopefully saves lives. Too many children die or are seriously injured on our roads each week. Beep Beep! Day is a great way of starting to talk to young children about road safety, as well as raising awareness among drivers, including parents and grandparents, of the need to drive with extreme care when young children are about.”

To find out more or register for a Beep Beep! Day, visit www.brake.org.uk/beepbeepday, call 01484 550061 or email beepbeep@brake.org.uk.

Notes to Editors:

References

[1] Reported Road Casualties in Great Britain: Annual Report 2017, Table RAS 30062

[2] Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2018, World Health Organisation