Around 15 children are killed or injured on Northern Irish roads according to the latest police figures.
Road safety charity Brake is calling for 20mph speed limits to be implemented around all schools as parents say their children are not safe walking to school.
The latest PSNI figures show in 2021, 656 children under the age of 16 were killed or injured on the roads, including 135 pedestrians and 50 pedal cyclists.
Read more: Chloe Mitchell: Vigils organised to remember young Ballymena murder victim
This was an increase on the year before when 644 children were killed or injured, however more than 200 less than in 2017.
Brake say that an average of 771 children have been killed or injured on NI roads in the past five years, which is the equivalent of 15 a week.
While Northern Ireland has the smallest population of the 12 regions of the UK, in 2021 it had the highest rate of child road casualties per capita and twice the national average.
Brake has also revealed the extent of child casualties across the rest of the UK. Latest official figures show that 11,580 children aged 15 or under were killed or injured on roads in the UK in 2021; an average taken from the last five years gives a figure of 13,503.
Lucy Straker, campaigns manager at Brake, says: “We speak to lots of schools where teachers are doing everything they can to make the roads near their school safe, but ultimately they need support from their local council and decision-makers. Why do we have to wait until a child is killed before we act?
“We know that excess speed is a factor in about a quarter of fatal crashes, and the physics is pretty straightforward: the faster a vehicle is travelling, the harder it hits and the greater the impact. A crash at 30mph has twice the amount of kinetic energy as a crash at 20mph. Reducing speed saves lives.
“We’re calling for roads around every school to have 20mph speed limits – and other measures to effectively reduce traffic speed – so children and their families can travel safely to and from school every day.”
Children under 16 killed or injured in Northern Ireland
READ NEXT:
Two men charged over murder and disappearance of Chloe Mitchell
Man attacked and robbed after stopping to help 'victim' lying in middle of road
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.
