Brake is urging schools to register for its ‘Giant Walking Bus’ event on 12 June, in a move to “stop five children a day being seriously hurt or killed on foot”.
Primary schools that register for the event will receive resources and support from Brake to help them promote road safety on the day and year-round.
Brake predicts that on 12 June tens of thousands of children across the UK will simultaneously march for safer roads, and in the process “say yes to fun, healthy walking and no to people driving fast in their community”.
This year the event will particularly call on drivers to slow down to 20mph around schools and “protect children on foot” as part of Brake’s Go 20 campaign.
As part of the event, schools are encouraged to take children on supervised walks to teach them about road safety, promote messages to parents and the community, and launch local road safety campaigns.
Brake says that DfT and the Police Service of Northern Ireland figures shows that five children are killed or seriously injured while walking in the UK every day. The road safety charity hopes that the Giant Walking Bus can help combat this.
Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive of Brake, says: “The Giant Walking Bus is a brilliant way for schools to promote children’s right to be able to walk without fear or threat from traffic. It’s a chance to teach kids about road safety and why walking is healthy and eco-friendly. But it’s also about showing your local community why kids’ safety on foot is so vital, and how local drivers can make a big difference by slowing down.
“Many schools will have concerns about children’s safety in their area, and Giant Walking Bus can act as a springboard for achieving change to help protect children and local people.”
For more information contact Richard Andrew, from Brake, on 01484 550054.
“To be able to walk without fear or threat from traffic”? I would have thought that the opposite would be the case.
Duncan MacKillop. Stratford on Avon
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