Brake Aims To Teach Two To Seven-Year-Olds About Staying Safe On The Roads

Road safety charity Brake and Churchill Car Insurance are urging nurseries to teach children about the dangers posed by traffic.

Leaders of the two organisations believe youngsters aged between two and seven would benefit from getting involved in "Beep Beep! Days", where key road safety messages are delivered in a child-friendly manner.

Brake first launched the campaign last year, with 27,000 children taking part and the non-profit organisation wants to build on this success by rolling the initiative out again.

Statistics show that traffic is the biggest non-medical killer of people under the age of 16 and 61 children were killed in vehicle-related accidents in 2012 alone, with a further 2,211 youngsters suffering serious injuries over the same period.

Brake wants to see nurseries putting on sessions that enable children to create posters about holding hands when crossing roads, sing road safety songs and bake traffic light biscuits. The group provides a special pack that makes it easy for nurseries to participate.

Deputy chief executive of the charity Julie Townsend said that now is an ideal time to raise awareness about hazardous roads, as more families will be out and about as the weather improves.

"Organising a Beep Beep! Day is a fun, simple way to teach tots and infants the road safety basics, plus it's great for persuading parents and everyone in the area that protecting children on roads is vital," she commented.

Steve Barrett, head of motor new business at Churchill Insurance, added that too many children are being killed or injured on the UK's roads and this scheme can benefit hundreds of nurseries and playgroups up and down the country.

Brake believes the Beep Beep! Day programme is also a good way for more people to get behind its Go 20 campaign, which is aimed at lobbying the government to change the default speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph in communities.

Expert Opinion

Any initiative or campaign aimed at improving road safety standards and demonstrating the importance of being vigilant around roads has to be welcomed. The statistics demonstrate clearly why it is vital to ensure that children understand the dangers that can emerge on and around roads, as well as what they can do to protect themselves from harm. <br/> <br/>"Too many people of all ages are killed or seriously injured every year as a result of road traffic collisions, with the figures being particularly concerning when it comes to younger age groups. Through our work, we see numerous cases when young people need long-term rehabilitation, care and support in order to get the best out of life after being injured in a crash. <br/> <br/>"We hope that nurseries and playgroups are able to embrace this initiative and ensure that all of the children which they care for are given vital skills which could prevent from being seriously hurt on roads." Stephen Nye - Partner