12:14pm Wednesday 9th November 2005
By Jane Bruccoleri
A Croydon boy knocked down as he walked home from school has made an impassioned plea to urge drivers to watch their speed on the road.
Twelve-year-old Sam Gee, of Birdhurst Road, was among 341 children seriously injured on London's roads in 2004.
He joined hundreds of children and parents at the launch of the 2005 National Road Safety Week in Westminster yesterday (Tuesday) to remind drivers about the dangers of speeding.
Sam was knocked down by a car as he crossed Coombe Road, Croydon, on his way home from school last December. He broke a leg and chipped his pelvis in the accident.
He helped promote the message Watch out there's a kid about!' and urged motorists to slow down to 20mph when driving near schools and communities.
At this speed, nine out of 10 children are likely to survive being hit by a car compared with only a 50 per cent survival rate at 30mph and almost no survival chance at 40mph.
The launch of National Road Safety Week coincides with the news that more than half of 563 London children who were surveyed about their fear of traffic were afraid to walk or cycle because of fast vehicles.
Sam's mum Hilary, who accompanied him on the march, also presented a petition to Children's Minister Beverley Hughes to strengthen the appeal for a controlled pedestrian crossing in Coombe Road, near to where Sam was knocked down.
She said: "The council have widened an island but it is not the same as a crossing which is what we really need."
Although London has witnessed a 49 per cent reduction in the number of children being killed on the roads, the south-east region as a whole has had the smallest reduction out of every region in the country.
"It is unacceptable that our children live in fear of traffic, but it is worse that their fear is legitimate - a child is killed on UK roads every 16 minutes", said Mary Williams OBE, chief executive of road safety charity Brake which co-ordinates the week.
Children's author and supporter of Brake, Jacqueline Wilson, added: "I find it shocking that we continue to fail our children by putting them at risks on our roads. It is time we put a stop to it."
The Government has set a target to reduce the number of children killed and seriously injured on roads in the UK by 50 per cent by 2010 compared to the 1994-1998 mean average.
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