1. Children and Road Safety Are we doing the right thing?
Presentation by
Kristine Beuret OBE
Director
Social Research Associates
and
Heather Ward
Senior Research Fellow UCL
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2. National Road Safety Conference www.sraltd.co.uk
Children and Travel
*Statistical analysis
*Interviews with parents and
children in Leicester, Newcastle, Hither Green, Dagenham, and Lincolnshire
*Discussion on Mumsnet and other media
*Workshops with children in
Ipswich and Watford
ITC-Occasional-Paper-9-Children-and-Travel-April pdf
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3. The lives of children today
Comparing 1996/8 with 2012/14, children (0-16) are:
spending more time indoors (+50% screen time)
making fewer trips by car (-13%), rail (-9%) walking (-26%) and cycling (-21%)
travelling less independently
Paedological research
% of children travelling to school unaccompanied
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4. National Road Safety Conference www.sraltd.co.uk
Attitudinal findings
Children would like to go out more on their own
But parents nervous and discourage this
Road safety and security concerns
But also concern about “what others think”
Frustration about lack of advice
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5. Child Road Safety: the UK Compared
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6. Child (aged 0 - 14) road deaths per million population: 2013
OECD and EU Countries DfT rrcgb 2014 RAS52001

7. Mortality rate of children 0-14 years as pedestrians (average rate)
Source: IRTAD 2015 Annual Report Figure 1.12

8. Percentage of all child road deaths
(selected EU countries Source: European Road Safety Observatory using CARE data )

9. How do children’s casualty patterns relate to risk?
Blackpool South 60% lower than average
York % higher than average
but:
% of ten year olds allowed to play out
Dagenham 60%
Hither Green 10%
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10. Questions to the road safety profession
Are we discouraging children’s independent travel?
Are we paying enough attention to concerns about personal security in road safety projects?
Would risk be reduced by new approaches to training which encourage independence and acknowledge children’s desire to ‘play out’?