This short report looks at child road casualties in Great Britain between 2010 and 2014. It looks at how children travel, the geographical distribution of child casualties and how the time of day, a child’s age, gender, travel mode and the socio-demographic background of the community impact on child road casualties. In 2014, there were 16,727 casualties aged 15 and under, of which 2,082 were fatal or serious. This accounted for almost 1 in 11 of all casualties and 1 in 12 deaths and serious injuries on the road. Until an increase in 2014, child casualties had fallen year-on-year since 1997 (DfT, 2014). There are large geographic and gender differences in the rate of child casualties — rates were highest in urban areas and there appears to be a north-south divide in England when analysing road casualty data; and boys were at higher risk of being hurt than girls throughout childhood and across all modes of transport. Cycling casualties were notably higher for boys than girls. When exposure was taken into account, there remained a higher risk for boys than girls when cycling on the road. Casualty numbers peaked for boys and girls at age 12, with pedestrian casualties highest for both genders between ages 11 and 12 — the ages at which children transition from primary to secondary schools, often gaining more independence and taking part in more unsupervised travel. The casualty numbers peaked in the hour before school begins and after school ends. Furthermore, children were more likely to be hurt on roads if they lived in less affluent urban areas, and were least likely to be hurt on the road if they came from higher income rural or suburban communities. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting