Wigan school pupils walk to call for safer roads

Landgate School in Winstanley is taking part in Brake’s Kids Walk with Shaun the Sheep, a national project which sees Shaun and his flock help youngsters learn road safety messages and call on adults to make roads safer.

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To coincide with the launch of the walk, road safety charity Brake has highlighted the true extent of child casualties on the region’s roads.

Latest Department for Transport figures show 2,052 children were killed or injured on North West roads in 2017.

Although the overall number of child road casualties has dropped by 11 per cent since 2014, when 2,306 children were killed or injured, figures have increased over the last couple of years.

In Wigan, there were 67 casualties in 2017, rising from 49 in 2016 but remaining below the 82 recorded in 2013.

Schools and nurseries from the region are uniting with Brake’s Kids Walk, calling for five measures to help keep children safe - footpaths, cycle paths, safe places to cross, slow traffic and clean traffic.

Landgate School pupils walked in crocodile formation today (Wednesday) and carry banners featuring Shaun the Sheep as they call for safer roads.

They are also raising money for Brake, which supports families who have lost loved ones in road crashes.