Everybody knows traffic is the biggest child killer in Britain today. With 33 202 'deaths and injuries' to child pedestrians and cyclists in 1999, it can sometimes seem that road safety is one of the few justified fears in our child-anxious climate.
| Yet a cool look at road accident rates shows a clear and rapid improvement. The lumping together of death and injury rates makes the figures look shocking - but of the 33 202 'deaths and injuries' in 1999, 193 (just over half a percent) resulted in fatalities, 4948 resulted in serious injury, and the vast majority - 28 061 - resulted in 'minor injury'. In 1973, over 15 000 pedestrians and cyclists under 19 years of age suffered serious injury or death - in 1999 the figure was nearer 5000.
| No doubt part of this decline is a result of fewer children being allowed out by themselves. Figures much-quoted in the media show that in 1972 only 12 percent of children were accompanied to school while in 1994 the number had risen to over 80 percent (1). But children are not as restricted as you might expect - the most recent survey found that only four percent of children were 'severely restricted' in terms of their independent mobility (2). And in relation to road safety, even deaths to child pedestrians per mile walked - which takes account of any restrictions on independent mobility - show a decline of 24 percent between 1985 and 1992 (3).
| It can be argued that road-related injuries are falling at a slower rate than other types of accidents. There are three possible reasons for this. First, as a child's world becomes a safer place, other types of accidents - in the home, at school, in playgrounds - are declining very rapidly. Second, the large increase in car ownership and car use means there are many more vehicles on the roads compared with the past (yet still a decline in road injuries). And third, the number of minor injuries is falling at a much slower rate than serious injuries and death. This shows that children are still out and about, still crossing the road, still getting knocked down. But thanks to better brake technology, better road design and better and faster medical treatments, fewer of them are being seriously hurt.
| The car may be depicted as a child's worst nightmare - but many children have benefited from increased car ownership. Their parents are more likely to own one, trips to family and friends have become easier, and while a car may not offer the same opportunity for social interaction as the back seat on the upstairs of a bus, it is comfortable, dry and fast. The distance children travel as car passengers has increased by 40 percent since 1989, so you might expect child passenger injuries to have increased in tandem - but deaths to child passengers declined by 42 percent per mile travelled between 1989 and 1995 (4).
| In the past road safety initiatives focused on children's lack of experience and competence in dealing with traffic, and aspired to teach children the rudiments of dealing with a busy road. Giants, squirrels, pop stars and footballers with perms were used to teach children that they should take care when crossing the road. But in the subsequent 30 years the emphasis has moved from educating children about how to manage on their own to 'driver awareness', where drivers are expected to drive as if a child might run on to the road at any minute - 'Kill your speed' (drivers) has replaced 'Stop, look and listen' (children) as the dominant road-safety message. The balance has moved so far on to driver responsibility that Home Zones are being piloted, where no matter what the circumstances the driver is automatically held responsible for an accident involving a child (5).
| Of course it is right to recognise that there are limitations to a child's competence and his ability to deal with difficult situations - but the danger is that this could be taken so far as to ensure that children remain incompetent for much longer than they should. This is most glaring in the way that the greatest proportion of accidents is shifting up the age range, and 12- to 15-year olds are most represented in accident and emergency departments. Indeed, Leeds road safety officers have noticed that the influx of undergraduates in September and October has led to an increase in road accidents. The move from educating children about roads towards holding drivers responsible for all accidents has created a generation of young adults who don't know their green cross code (6).
| Growing up starts in childhood. An important part of encouraging and stimulating children, who desire to be more competent and responsible, involves teaching them about the dangers of life. It also means allowing children to practice their developing skills so that they can have the self-confidence and ability to operate independently in their world. An over-emphasis on safety holds children back from making discoveries about their environment, other people and themselves.
| Kate Moorcock is a researcher and writer on children and risk and founder member of Families for Freedom
| (1) See One False Move: A Study of Children's Independent Mobility, M Hillman et al, London Policy Studies Institute, 1990
(2) See Childhood, Urban Space and Citizenship: Child Sensitive Urban Regeneration, Margaret O'Brian, Michael Rustin and Jon Greenfield, University of North London, 2000
(3), (4) and (5) See 'The influence on changing travel patterns on child death rates from injury' by Carolyn DiGuissepi, British Medical Journal, 8 March 1997
(6) Reported to author at the Automobile Association Research Foundation workgroup in London, 1999
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