Today the Department of Transport have published road accident figures which reveal a disturbing upward trend. They show that 69 children, an increase of 15 from the previous year, were killed on our roads in 2016. This is the highest figure since 2009. The Government’s reaction states there is no clear trend. Nevertheless this contradicts clear evidence showing annual figure for child deaths and serious injuries on the roads has been rising in recent years following a 20 year on year decline since 1995. Any child fatality is one too many, particularly for the family and friends they leave behind.
Fay Goodman, creator of the Conies and director of DriveSafe & StaySafe said:
“We urgently need to do more to keep our children safe, particularly on their journeys to and from school. We know it’s an especially dangerous time of day. We regularly see and hear horror stories about the behaviour of drivers and dangerous parking around school gates.
“The Conies was born out of a desire to help keep children safe. We want to educate them, in a fun way, with characters they can identify with, to improve road safety. Following on from our successful pilot to 3,400 primary school children in high risk areas of Birmingham, we are rolling out our road safety training to a further three areas of the city during January 2018. As well as a variety of resources, this consists of workbooks embracing how to get to school safely on foot or by bus, car and bike – as well as managing distractions and stranger danger. Supported by the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership we aim to bring our ‘Walking to School Safely’ Journal to more areas of the Midlands.”
Source of figures: Department for Transport
Just one example of dangerous driving around schools
You can help us to keep children safe by supporting the Conies.
For more information or to talk to Fay Goodman call 07976 426463 email fay@goodmedia.co.uk
