THE NUMBER of children killed on the roads dropped by 45 per cent from 1997 to 2009, according to new figures from the Road Safety Authority .
At an event attended by Rose of Tralee winner and road safety ambassador Clare Kambamettu and primary school girls taking part in the Rosebuds competition, it was announced that every child starting school next month would be given a free high-visibility safety vest.
A total of 246 children up to the age of 14 were killed on Irish roads in the 12 years covered by the study. A further 1,013 were seriously injured.
Over half of the children killed or seriously injured were cyclists or pedestrians, and over a third of those killed were passengers in cars.
Most of the incidents involving children occurred between 4pm and 6.59pm, and 61 per cent of child fatalities were outside built-up areas where the roads had speed limits higher than 60km/h, according to the detailed in the authority’s Child Casualties Report.
In 1997 some 27 children were killed and 135 seriously injured on the roads. This had dropped in 2009 to 12 killed and 40 injured.
However, this was still too many, the authority’s chief executive Noel Brett said yesterday. Each back-to-school list by parents should include bicycle helmets and other life-saving road gear.
“It’s also important to demonstrate good road-safety behaviour at all times as your child will learn from your example.” Mr Brett said teachers should include a road-safety lesson in their classes.
ESB Electric Ireland is funding 80,000 high-visibility vests, and the packs, to be given to all junior infants, will include leaflets and safe cross codes.