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Increase in child road injuries

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of children being killed or injured on Cornwall's roads, new figures show.
In 2005, 180 children were involved in accidents, but the first six months of 2006 has seen 140, according to the Cornwall Road Casualty Reduction Group.

The group said a lack of road sense may be one of the reasons.

It said it was working on schemes to train parents and schools to help increase safety.

Beverly Skilton from the group said issues included children being hurt as car passengers, but the largest issue was child pedestrians being very vulnerable.

'Carried around'

She said: "The 10 to 14-year-olds are the most vulnerable.

"We believe this is because up until their 10th or 11th birthday they are probably transported to school by their parents.

"After that period, they're thought grown up enough to walk to the school or to the bus, but haven't actually developed the skills to do that because most of their life they've been carried around the place."

Ms Skilton said there was a misconception that children just acquired the skills to deal with traffic.

The casualty reduction group said it was encouraging people to address any lack of road skills by trying to get people out of their cars - particularly on short, regular journeys.

It also said it was working with parents and schools to be able to train children, and also distributing information leaflet so parents know what knowledge children need for crossing roads and riding bicycles safely.

Cornwall County Council said teaching children road safety was vital to them staying safe as they became more independent.

You don't think it's got anything to do with speed kills propagada being shoved down their throats by the 'friendly smiley' cameras who exibit at county shows and involve school children in speed camrea enforcement?

Let me get this straight. Children have less road sense and are being knocked down because of the school run.

So the proposed solution is to get these kids with little road sense out of the cars and into the environment for which they have no aptitude?

Magic!

it's a miracle more of them aren't run over.