7 March 2011

Lack of Road Safety Places Parents and Children at Risk

Lack of road safety is putting parents and children at risk.Parents admit to talking on phones, texting or listening to an iPod when crossing the road.

**New research has revealed a relaxed attitude towards road safety puts lives of parents and children at risk. According to Admiral, a third of parents admit to talking on mobile phones, texting or listening to an iPod/ mp3 player when crossing the road. ** The study showed parents are far too relaxed when it comes to road safety. One in ten parents know a child who has been knocked over by traffic.

Many Mums and Dads are putting themselves and their children at risk, as now nearly one in ten youngsters copy the actions of their parents. These children are also crossing roads not looking where they are going, distracted by texting, talking on phones and music players.

The car insurance specialists surveyed parents on their road safety habits and found that less than half of parents follow the Green Cross Code when crossing the road. Despite this, 70 per cent of parents feel that people are driving faster and 85 per cent of parents feel that the roads are busier.

"Parents and carers have an important role to play in helping their children learn about road safety from an early age,” said Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

"Simply walking to school or to the shops together provides fantastic opportunities to start talking about road safety and to put into practice actions like choosing safe places to cross and not being distracted by music, a mobile phone or friends while crossing the road.”

Find a safe spot, ideally at a designated crossing when taking steps to cross a road. * STOP – just before you get to the kerb, do not get too close to the traffic. Make sure that all mobile phones and gadgets are put away and that earphones have been removed. *LOOK – all around for traffic. Traffic could come from any direction. *LISTEN – because you can sometimes hear traffic before you see it. Nothing you're doing at that time is more important than crossing the road safely.

Recently, the European Court of Justice banned gender being used to calculate car insurance. Young women are the most affected and could see rates go up by 25 per cent. Compare car insurance to see how this ban will affect you.