Average of 110 child casualties on Wiltshire's roads each year
Young people from across the country will take to the streets around their school today (Wednesday 16th June) in Brake's Kids Walk
School children from around Wiltshire and the South West will take to the streets around their school today (16th June) to raise awareness of the average of 110 young people who are killed or injured on the region’s roads every year.
The children, aged between 4 and 11, are among more than 50,000 across the UK who are taking part in Brake’s Kids Walk.
Latest Department for Transport (DfT) figures for 2019 show that there were 106 casualties in 2019 in Wiltshire, excluding Swindon, which is the fourth highest in the South West.
Schools and nurseries from the region are now joining the nationwide campaign, calling for five key measures to enable children to make safe and healthy journeys:
- Footpaths
- Cycle paths
- Safe places to cross
- Slow traffic
- Clean traffic
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. Throughout the pandemic families have taken to the streets on foot and by bike and we hope these activities will continue as restrictions lift and ordinary road traffic returns.
It is vital that children are able to walk safely in the places where they live. Although numbers of children killed or injured in the South West shows positive signs of decline, every road death or injury is one too many and causes devastation for families, schools and communities. This year we hope to inspire as many children, schools and families as possible to call for safe and healthy journeys for children through our Brake’s Kids Walk event.”