Nearly 80% of parents want a 20mph speed limit in urban areas to help reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured by vehicles, joint research conducted by road safety charity Brake and tyre manufacturer Bridgestone has revealed.
Four in five parents (79%) who currently live in a 20mph area supported the move, while seven in ten (72%) of parents who lived in non-20mph areas wanted to see a widespread reduction of the speed limit.
More than 2,000 children under 16 years old are killed or seriously injured in road accidents every year in the UK, and Brake have joined many organisations across the world in support of #SaveKidsLives, part of the UN's Global Road Safety Week (4th-10th May). In the run-up to the UK General Election, Brake was calling on all parties to commit to a default urban speed limit of 20mph.
Brake's GO 20 campaign encourages government and local authorities to adopt widespread 20mph speed limits, as well as drivers to slow down to help make communities safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Even in the UK… thousands of children are killed and seriously injured every year
Julie Townsend, Brake
Every day, 500 children die in road accidents across the world, and this has been described as a "global travesty" by Julie Townsend, Brake's deputy chief executive.
Last year saw the first increase in road casualties for 25 years, with serious injuries rising by 4% in the year ending September 2014, while deaths increased by 1%.
Even in the UK, a developed country with a comparatively good road safety record, thousands of children are killed and seriously injured every year, and the figures are now going in the wrong direction. As the #SaveKidsLives campaign makes clear, we need meaningful, sustained, long-term action to create a better world for our children, both in the UK and across the globe.
she said.
Farrell Dolan, Consumer sales and marketing director at Bridgestone who are sponsoring the GO 20 campaign, said:
The increase in child road casualties is alarming and the statistics are a big cause for concern. We are big supporters of Brake's efforts to reduce these figures through their GO 20 campaign.
We echo Brake's call to drivers to stick to 20mph or below around homes, schools and shops.