St. Julie Billiart - The Smiling Saint

Pupil Safety and Dark Nights

Oct 19, 2020

Pupil Safety and Dark Nights

On Saturday 24th October we will be setting the clocks back an hour and 'summer time' officially ends. 

Road traffic collisions increase by 20% in the fortnight after the time change. 

Sadly, some of those collisions will involve child pedestrians and cyclists. Children under-16 are one of the most vulnerable groups of road users.

The latest available government statistics (2015)* show that 58% of children who die or are seriously injured in a road collision are involved in incidents between 3 and 7pm. From next Sunday, much of those will happen in darkness.

Whilst younger children are at risk, the data shows that 11 - 15 year olds are actually at more at risk from accidents that kill or result in serious injury.

Please refer to the resources linked below to help remind your children about road safety and safe cycling.

Teaching Road Safety: A Guide for Parents https://www.rospa.com/media/documents/road-safety/teaching-road-safety-a-guide-for-parents.pdf

Safety First – Cycling at Night https://www.cycletraining.co.uk/cycle-training-and-cycle-safety/safety-first-cycling-at-night/

Road safety teaching resources for children https://www.think.gov.uk/education-resources/

Keeping children safe during lockdown and beyond - Parents’ pack https://www.capt.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=44e36e43-bd5e-4dd0-acae-e040f37fe2ef