Road Safety for children

Take part in Road Safety Week!

Children on the road is always a concern for parents and the Road Safety Week highlights all the issues surrounding child safety on the roads. Babyworld is keen to inform parents of the activities that may be going on with your pre-school, school or nursery to promote and ensure that children learn and remain safe on our roads.

Help Brake to save lives and to support people bereaved by road crashes by taking part in National Road Safety Week.

Every day on UK roads, nine people are killed and nearly ten times as many are seriously injured. Taking part can be fun as well as life-saving.

Road Safety Week is organised by Brake, the national road safety charity, and supported by headline sponsors 3M, DHL, MASS (the Motor Accident Solicitors Society), KwikFit Insurance and the Department for Transport.

Protect the ones you love

You can do whatever you want to do in Road Safety Week - as long as it helps us save lives!

Every year Brake chooses a theme that we promote to the media during Road Safety Week. You can choose to do something on this theme, or on a different or more specific theme of your own that suits you better – lots of people do. For example, you could be an avid cyclist planning to raise awareness of cyclist deaths through a sponsored bike ride in aid of Brake during the Week that you promote to your local media. Or you could be a company training employees about winter driving during Road Safety Week, during which you have a 'Brake Bright! Day' in aid of Brake, when everyone comes dressed in something bright to raise awareness of pedestrian vulnerability during the winter months and funds for the charity.

Family safety: STOP. IMAGINE. CHANGE.

Brake have chosen to focus on the theme 'Family Safety – STOP. IMAGINE. CHANGE.

In particular, we will be raising awareness of the following 3 key things:

• The vital need for parents to ‘protect the ones they love’. Brake research report about child car seats, cycling and walking safely, and speed when driving your family.
• The terrible devastation caused by death and injury on roads. Families affected in this way and representing Brake will tell the media about how their lives have been wrecked by death and serious injury.
• The need for drivers and parents to Stop. Imagine. Change. We are asking people to stop and imagine how horrendous it would be to lose a loved one in a road crash, or cause a fatal crash, take a long hard look at their behaviour on roads, and change their behaviour for the better. We can all make a commitment to improve our behaviour, whether that means taking more time to look twice at junctions, or committing to not ever overtaking unless it is totally safe, or simply always holding our children’s hands.

You can help us to promote the theme of family safety!

• Parents and community leaders can help to promote this theme through community events.
• Companies can give employees advice to ensure their families are safe: for example, information on child restraints, or driving slowly in communities; or wearing cycle helmets.
• Schools can work with parents to promote walking and cycling safely; using correct child restraints; and slowing down to 20mph in communities.
• Professionals working for local authorities, the police, fire brigades, the army, or other key agencies such as driving instructors, can promote the theme through publicity programmes and RSE activities.

Whoever you are, and whatever theme you choose, you can take part! Use the left navigation bar for more information AND GET PLANNING TODAY!

Visit this www.trafficclub.co.uk for some fun activities to do with your children, they can sign up and jon the Traffic Club. Where to next? Out and about - check out our UK family travel guides Has your toddler had a near-accident or hurt himself in your garden or at a friend's house? Tell us about it and pass on any tips for other mums. ROSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) CAPT (Child Accident Prevention Trust) - a charity dedicated to reducing the number of children injured, disabled and killed in accidents.