More road safety training needed for young children, RoSPA research shows

3 Apr 2019 06:36 PM

New research has revealed that almost half (49 per cent) of children aged 6-11 have not received any form of pedestrian safety training in the past 12 months, despite road accidents being the leading cause of accidental death for children of that age*.

Results from a new YouGov survey, commissioned by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), have revealed that 49 per cent of parents said their children have not had any guidance about how to be road safe.

The survey also revealed that nearly two-thirds (61 per cent) would like to see more practical pedestrian training being given to their children.

The latest accident figures from the Department of Transport demonstrate the need for further pedestrian safety training targeted at minors – 1,269 child pedestrians in the UK were killed or seriously injured in 2017.

Nick Lloyd, RoSPA’s acting head of road safety, said: “Our survey has highlighted a clear demand among parents for more road safety training to be delivered to primary school-aged children. Meeting this need becomes all the more urgent when we consider the level of child road injury rates.

“If we are to truly empower our children and their parents to commit to cleaner, active travel and healthier lifestyles, we have to make sure they feel safe as pedestrians. The best way to teach children the road safety skills they need is to deliver real-world, practical lessons, so we have designed a suite of resources for teachers and parents to enable them to do this.

“We want every child to have the opportunity to learn how to be a safe and confident pedestrian.”

Parents who would like to teach their children about road safety can find hints and tips, including the Green Cross Code, at www.rospa.com/FamilySafetyWeek. RoSPA also has a free road safety training pack for teachers, which aims to equip children at Key Stage 2 with the knowledge they need to be safe road users. It can be found at www.rospa.com/ChildTraining.

Family Safety Week was set up by RoSPA in a bid to help millions of people protect their loved ones from accidents – the number of one cause of preventable death.

Notes to Editors

*RoSPA’s national accident prevention strategy, Safe and active at all ages

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 411 parents of 6-11-year-olds in England. Fieldwork was undertaken between January 30 and February 1, 2019. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (18+).

More statistics are available from the RoSPA press team.

For photographs and other requests email: pressoffice@rospa.com or call 0121 248 2135.