Kids march for safer roads
Traffic campaign may have broken world
record
More than 26,000 children from 134 Scottish primary schools went
on a march to campaign for safer roads yesterday.
The Giant Walking Bus event was organised by the road safety
charity Brake to try to persuade drivers to slow down to 20 miles
per hour around schools, shops and homes.
A total of 12 children are knocked down and injured every week
while walking in Scotland.
"Too many children suffer due to fast traffic in their area,
whether it's stopping them getting out and about and enjoying being
a kid, or worse, suffering a terrible injury or even being killed,"
said Julie Townsend, the boss of Brake. "But we can do something
about this."
The Giant Walking Bus is an event that is held every year as
part of Brake's Kids Say Slow Down campaign. A total of more than
120,000 kids across the UK took part in yesterday's march.
This might even beat the Guinness World Record for the largest
walking bus! The record is held by the same event from 2009 when
119,000 children were involved. This year's marchers all have to be
officially counted before they find out if they have made it.
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Kids march for safer roads
Fifteen cyclists a week hurt in road
accidents
As schoolchildren have taken to the streets to campaign for
safer roads, new statistics have been published that show more than
15 cyclists a week were injured in accidents in Scotland last
year.
There were 824 injuries involving cyclists on our roads last
year - that's a 9% increase from the year before.
The number of cyclists killed remained the same as 2010, at
seven.
The figures we r e described as "appalling" by the Green Party
and were met with disappointment by cycling groups and safety
campaigners, who called for further investment in road safety to
protect cyclists.
However, it is not clear whether cycling has actually become
more dangerous, as the spike in accidents and serious injuries has
accompanied a surge of interest in the activity.
Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, has recorded a 19%
increase in the number of journeys made on the National Cycle
Network across the UK, and the number of road journeys made by bike
is also thought to have increased.
The figures follow a national summit to improve cycle safety
convened by transport minister Keith Brown following the deaths of
three cyclists in Edinburgh earlier this year.
Mr Brown said "more must be done" to improve safety.
He said: "Earlier this year I convened a meeting of the road
safety group to focus on cycle safety and we have launched our
first-ever TV advertising campaign, Give Me Cycle Space, aimed at
encouraging drivers to look out for cyclists.
"Bikeability Scotland will also give every school child the
opportunity for on-road cycle training and we are working with
cycling organisations and lobby groups to increase and improve bike
use in Scotland.
The good news for road safety is that the overall level of road
crash casualties and deaths fell to an all-time low last year.
There were 12,763 road accident injuries and deaths in 2011.
That is 575 fewer than the previous year.
The number killed also fell from 2208 to 186. However, the
recession and high fuel prices have led to a reduction in cars on
the road.
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