West Midlands children join campaign to make roads safer
It follows a 10% rise in child casualties on our region's roads since 2022
Over 85,000 primary school children from more than 600 schools and youth groups - including 39 in the West Midlands - are taking part in a walk today calling for roads to be made safer.
It's part of a campaign by road safety charity, Brake, calling on Government to lower default speed limits on roads where children travel to and from school.
Luca Straker, campaigns manager at Brake, said reducing speed limits is crucial:
“We all want children to be able to travel to and from school safely. But, sadly, every day, more than 16 primary schoolchildren are harmed on our roads.
"We know that excess speed is a factor in about a quarter of fatal crashes – and the physics is pretty straightforward: the faster a vehicle is travelling, the harder it hits and the greater the impact."
New research published by the charity has found 80% of parents and carers surveyed would like roads near their home and children’s schools to have a speed limit of 20mph.
85% of those surveyed said they would like the Government to do more to make roads safer in their community.
Of the 2,010 parents and carers of primary school children surveyed, more than half (55%) would like their children to walk or wheel to school more often, but many say they can’t because the roads are too busy (40%), traffic moves too fast (28%) and there are no suitable crossings (14%).
It's as latest Department for Transport figures show that 534 children aged 4–11 were harmed on West Midlands roads in 2023, a 10% rise in child casualties since 2022. That includes two children who were killed and 85 who were seriously injured.
Across the region, the greatest number of child casualties in 2023 occurred in Birmingham, which recorded 152 children hurt on roads, including one child who died and 27 who were seriously injured.
The next highest numbers of child road casualties in the West Midlands in 2023 were seen in Warwickshire (59) and Sandwell (50).
Luca said there is already evidence reducing speed limits makes roads safer:
“In September 2023, the Welsh Government took a bold step in reducing the default speed limit on roads in built-up and residential areas to 20mph. Within the first year, collisions on these roads had reduced by 26%.
“Slow traffic means safer journeys for children. We must do everything we can to keep our children safe!”
As part of the campaign, Brake has sent a letter to Future Roads Minister Lillian Greenwood MP, calling for the Government to commit to introducing 20mph as the default speed limit on roads in built-up and residential areas as part of its Road Safety Strategy.
We have contacted the Department for Transport for comment.