Thousands of children take part in road safety activities

Across the UK, more than 220,000 children aged 2–7 will take part in Beep Beep! Day on Wednesday 20 November to learn road safety basics. Beep Beep! Days are coordinated by road safety charity Brake with support from Aardman Animations and Timmy Time.

The mother of a 17-month-old boy, who died after being hit by a car in a hotel car park, is supporting a charity’s campaign to make roads safer. Cheryl Yates is backing Brake’s Beep Beep! Day in memory of her son Jackson who died in August 2017, in Yarm, North Yorkshire.

Since Jackson’s death, Cheryl has set up her own charity Blue for Jackson to help raise awareness of road danger among parents and children. To mark UK Road Safety Week (18-24 November 2019), Blue for Jackson has donated 200 free Beep Beep! Day activity packs to schools and nurseries in her community.

Latest official figures show that 6,706 children were killed or injured while walking or cycling on roads in England in 2018. This is nearly a nine percent reduction from the previous year when 7,332 children were killed or injured in 2017. However it still means that, on average, 18 child pedestrians or cyclists die or suffer injuries as a result of road crashes every day.

In 2018, of all regions in England, London saw the greatest number of child pedestrian and cycling casualties (1,137), while the North East saw the fewest (322). The South East will have the greatest number of children taking part in a Beep Beep Day! with Timmy Time this week, with an estimated 40,179 children.

Schools and nurseries will be running Beep Beep! Day activities this week as part of UK Road Safety Week, the UK’s biggest annual road safety campaign, which is also coordinated by Brake. This year, Brake is calling for people to Step Up for Safe Streets and celebrate the amazing solutions that are available to enable everyone to make safe and healthy journeys. The latest statistics confirm the need for safe streets with safe footpaths and cycle paths away from motorised traffic, so that children can walk and cycle safely where they live.

Children who take part in a Beep Beep! Day with Timmy Time will learn road safety basics, including the importance of safe streets for safe and healthy journeys, through a series of fun activities. Schools and nurseries can also take the opportunity to talk to parents and their wider community about how to keep children safe near roads. Beep Beep! Days are run in partnership with Churchill Insurance, and the project is now in its 15th year.