Bank Holiday road safety is child’s play
Drivers, parents, guardians and carers must pay extra attention to children playing by the road over the Bank Holiday and half-term break, urges leading breakdown provider Start Rescue.
With one-in-five children aged 15 or under reported to be involved in a collision or near miss with a car while looking at a mobile phone, making kids and drivers aware of the danger is vital. “Warm weather and a school holiday means many kids come out to play by the roadside,” says Lee Puffett, Managing Director of Start Rescue.
“They should be able to do that in complete safety, but we also need to remind them to look up, especially from their mobile phones, when near the road or crossing it so they are not distracted.” Children up to the age of 12 struggle to gauge traffic speed and distances. Twenty child pedestrians aged 15 or under were killed on the UK’s roads in 2024 and a further 1253 were seriously injured.
“Drivers play a crucial role in safety when kids are playing out on the street,” adds Lee Puffett.
“At 30mph, a child is more than three times as likely to be killed or seriously injured than at 20mph, so it pays to foresee dangerous situations in advance when you see children not concentrating near a road, whilst slowing down to give yourself and them more time to react.” Start Rescue, part of the Call Assist family, which supports motorists with breakdown cover across the UK and Europe has also achieved Which? Recommended Provider status for seven years in succession, an achievement that’s unmatched by any other vehicle recovery operator. Start Rescue and Call Assist are also Which?
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Start Rescue has a 4.7-star rating on Trustpilot, a five-star Defaqto** rating for its 3 star policy and has achieved Which? Recommended Provider status for a record-breaking seven years running. Start Rescue has also been awarded best Breakdown Cover provider in the Finder Customer Satisfaction Awards 2024, scoring 4.9 out of 5 for overall satisfaction with a 94% recommendation rate.
**Defaqto helps financial institutions and consumers make better informed decisions, by researching and analysing the terms and conditions for every financial product on the market. Defaqto then rates products on a scale of 1 to 5, based on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features and benefits they provide.