Children in road safety plea
- 00:01:53
- ITN
Children in road safety plea
Children who have had siblings killed in road accidents are to hand in a safety petition at 10 Downing Street to highlight National Road Safety Week.The youngsters will be joined by other children who have been injured in crashes and who are calling for 20mph zones and for drivers to slow down around schools and homes.The petition comes at a time when road safety charity Brake is publishing a survey showing 75 per cent of children feel harassed by fast traffic in their community.A total of seven children have been chosen to hand in the petition to symbolise the fact that each day seven children in the UK are killed or seriously injured in road crashes.Lynsey Kenny, whose son Tommy, ten, was killed crossing a road in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in April this year, said: "Our world stopped turning on April 28. Tommy's whole family struggles to accept that he is gone, taken from us so cruelly."All we can do now is fight every day to prevent further tragedies in memory of our little boy."Chelsea Warner, Ryan Dinnes and Ben White, teenagers from north London, were knocked down and seriously injured while standing on a pavement outside their school, after a car lost control.Chelsea was in a critical condition and in hospital for six months. She said: "None of us will ever forget the horror of seeing the car coming towards us and then hitting us."It was the most frightening thing you can imagine. One man's decision to drive dangerously changed our lives forever."Brake chief executive Mary Williams said: "Fast traffic blights children's lives and kills. In a civilised society it is a disgrace that we allow children to die on roads."Every death is horrific and devastating. TV campaigns and central government guidance to local authorities to introduce child safety measures are not enough."We will not rest until there are statutory 20mph safety zones around all communities. This will stop deaths and transform communities."Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick said: "Child road casualties have fallen dramatically since the 1990s, but still far too many children are killed or injured on our roads. Our new child road safety strategy, launched earlier this year, provides a wide range of measures to further tackle child casualties."We share Brake's aim of further reducing road deaths and injuries. We are continuing to make progress at reducing casualties across the board, but clearly there is no acceptable level."© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
ITN | November 6, 2007
