Child Safety in UK - VOICE fact sheet

• Even though the United Kingdom has the best overall road safety record in the EU, its performance in terms of protection of vulnerable road users, particularly cyclists and pedestrians, is less satisfactory.
• The main reason people do not walk or cycle more often is fear of being hit by a car.
• the promotion of cycling and walking and the provision of better protection for cyclists and pedestrians, particularly children, are interrelated issues and cannot be thought of independently.
• The number of children killed or seriously injured in Great Britain in 2004 was 3,905. Of those, 2,339 were pedestrians
• In residential areas where car speeds have been reduced from 30 to 20 mph, child pedestrian casualties have fallen by 70%
• Child cyclists and helmet use - bicycle helmets are effective at reducing the incidence and severity of head, brain and upper facial injury, and two European standards exist for them: 
• EN 1078 (helmets for pedal cyclists and users of skateboards and roller skates) 
• EN1080 (impact protection helmets for young children). 
• They have been found to help reduce injury for users of all ages, though particularly for children. Indeed, wearing helmets among child cyclists involved in crashes reduce their incidence of head injury by 63% and of loss of consciousness by 86%
• Surveys show that cycling helmet wearing rates have been rising over the past few years - from 16% in 1999 to 25% in 2002
• the overall helmet wearing rates in the United Kingdom remain low. Cycle helmet use is not compulsory and authorities fear that mandatory use may lead to decreased bicycle use. Barriers to helmet use include, for instance, age (teenagers are less likely to wear a helmet), social background (lower income and educational level), and geographical factors (possibly associated with different levels of helmet promotion)
• Traffic calming and speed reduction measures The 30 mph limit for built up areas is the most common of British national speed limits although support for lower speed limits has increased over the past decade. A pedestrian knocked down by a vehicle travelling at 40 mph has only a 5% chance of surviving; at 30 mph it is 45%, but at 20 mph the chances of surviving rise to 95%.

source: ETSC