Children take to pavements for safe streets

Listen carefully today and you may hear the sound of thousands of small feet marching along your town’s pavements.

Today, children up and down the UK will take to the streets near their schools to raise awareness of the need for safer roads.

And while it is warming to see children as young as four standing up for their rights, road safety is an issue that the grown-ups need to step up and take responsibility for.

We are the ones making the laws, planning the roads and driving the cars.

And we are not doing enough. According to the Department for Transport, 15 children are injured or killed on the roads every week.

In Fife alone, it is 51 casualties a year, and Dundee reported a deeply-concerning increase of 50% in child road casualties in 2020.

We all have a part to play in making roads safer for children

Something is very wrong, and it is on all of our doorsteps.

Just yesterday, Broughty Ferry youngster Lewis Smith was left injured after being struck by a car on Forthill Road.

The Grove Academy pupil was hit as he cycled to school in the morning. He had a “lucky escape”, with only minor injuries and a fair old shock.

The incident has prompted Lewis’s dad Martin and other residents to voice their concerns over the busy road. It is clear we all have a part to play in making roads safer for children.

Local authorities must work harder to implement practical traffic-calming measures around schools.

Walking and cycling should be at the forefront of planning, no longer an afterthought.

If advice to use “sustainable travel” is to be followed, transport bodies must be held to account, and made to provide reliable, safe and efficient bus and rail services.

Motorists need to take responsibility too. Slow down near schools, even if you are running late.