London. Safety 2010
Almost three quarters (72%) drivers surveyed by the road safety charity, Brake, and motor insurer admitted driving at 35mph or faster in a 30mph zone. Half of these offenders (36%) admitted doing this daily or at least once a week.
Brake chief executive Mary Williams OBE says: “There appears to be widespread complacency among drivers who may think they will be able to stop in time if they are just going ‘a few’ miles over 30 – but the physics of speed tells us they won’t, and the casualty figures tell us they don’t. Many of these drivers wouldn’t dream of drink or drug driving, but are prepared to risk lives by speeding. There need to be more campaigns that explain to otherwise law-abiding citizens the exponentially damaging effects of increases in speed.”
Every day in Britain, eight children and young people (aged 0 – 19) are killed or seriously injured on foot or bicycles.
There is no safe speed at which you can hit someone on foot. A car is a one tonne chunk of metal that can cause death or serious injury at any speed. However, by driving slowly in communities we stand a much greater chance of stopping in time. As a driver’s speed rises, their stopping distances rise much quicker; stopping distances treble between 20mph and 40mph. At the conference, Williams will explain that:
A car driven at 20mph or lower (the maximum speed limit recommended by Brake for towns and villages) can stop in 12 metres (about three car lengths) or less, giving the driver a good chance to brake and stop in time if a child runs out ahead.
A car driven at 30mph would still be travelling at about 27mph at the 12 metre marker, and would take nearly double this distance (23 metres) to stop (about six car lengths). A child hit at 27mph is likely to suffer serious injury such as paralysis or brain injury, or die; this is the equivalent of a child falling backwards out the window of a three storey house (a drop of about 7.3m).
A car driven at 36mph would still be travelling at about 35mph at the 12 metre marker, and would take two and half times this distance (about 30 metres) to stop (about seven and a half car lengths). A child hit at 35mph would almost certainly die or suffer very serious injury such as paralysis or brain injury; this is the equivalent of a child falling backwards off the balcony of a fifth floor apartment building onto concrete (a drop of about 12.6m).
20mph is the default urban limit in countries with significantly lower child pedestrian death rates, such as The Netherlands. Brake is calling on the government to adopt the same limit in the UK.
Williams, who is speaking at the conference, said: “Anyone who can understand that it isn’t safe for a child to fall out the window of a three storey house can also understand that 30mph is too fast for communities. There is an urgent need for the default 30mph limit to be changed to 20, and we also want this research to act as a rallying cry to all drivers to take personal responsibility to stop the carnage on our streets by dropping their speed to 20 or lower in towns and villages. There is no excuse that bears scrutiny for faster speeds in communities. Imagine telling a mother whose son had been killed by you that you were in a rush, or felt under pressure from other drivers, or just weren’t concentrating, or thought your fabulously engineered brakes gave you permission to drive faster. All drivers have a duty to protect the lives of the vulnerable people who are a major part of the fabric of communities, particularly children, the elderly and the disabled, by slowing down. Children, the elderly, the disabled, or anyone else on foot or a bicycle may make a mistake, but they don’t deserve the death penalty or to spend the rest of their life in a wheelchair because of drivers’ speed.”
The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) has published a report entitled ‘Why Children Die: A Pilot Study’. Avoidable factors were found in 26% and potentially avoidable in a further 43%.
The continual decline in the number of registered childminders does not look like ending, as the latest figures from Ofsted show a drop of more than 900 since the start of the year.
A report from the The Department For Children, Schools and Familieshas been recently published about young people and parents’ attitudes around accidents, bullying and safety.
Following a public consultation in the summer of 2009, the Food Standards Agency has today recommended that food manufacturers reduce saturated fat in foods such as biscuits, cakes, buns, chocolates and added sugar in soft drinks.
Inspired by the Channel 4 TV show Planet Cook, and based on the Food Standards Agency's food competences, the resource helps young children learn how to choose, cook and eat safe, healthy food
A new report, called "Better Safe than Sorry", has been produced by the Healthcare Commission. Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death and illness among children aged 1-14 years, and causes more children to be admitted to hospital each year than any other reason. Healthcare Commission report
“The Dangerously Big Bunny ” highlights issues of obesity.
Kids Say Slow Down is the theme of Road Safety Week 2010. Get planning your Road Safety Week activity. Go to www.roadsafetyweek.org
Attend the Making the Bad Guys Good seminar and hear from specialists in traffic offender programmes, driver education and psychology on working with traffic offenders. See www.brake.org.uk/bad-guys-good-2010.
£10,000 - by buying one of Brake’s raffle tickets. Tickets costs £25 each and we’re only selling 800, so great odds to win! Visit www.brake.org.uk/million-pennies
Road Safety GB Mercia region looks forward to welcoming you to the 2010 Annual Conference in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.
Two thirds of hospitals do not routinely check if children are subject to child protection orders when they arrive injured in A&E, figures suggest.Full Story
Poverty puts children at higher risk of accidents. Children from poorer families are far more likely to die or be harmed than their better-off counterparts, according to research from the World Health Organisation. More information
More than 780 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write , and between 94 and 115 million children lack access to education.
The Campaign for Drawing has one aim: to get everyone drawing
Everybody Writes Day is an annual celebration of writing in schools. Primary and secondary schools collapse the curriculum for one whole day to celebrate writing in all its forms.
National Tree Week is a great chance for communities to do something positive for their local treescape.
Home page | Characters in the stories | About DangerSpot Books | Child safety books | Child accident prevention advice | Other stories to be published | Games | Site map | Contact us | Links | News | Quiz | Press release