Mothers who take their children on the school run using push-along scooters could be contributing to a rise in accidents involving children, experts say.
The warning comes as a major survey reveals that proportional British death and serious injury rates for child pedestrians aged five and under are at their highest for 10 years.
Pedestrian casualties for girls aged under eight are at their highest level since 2005. And the number of girls aged five to seven involved in serious accidents when walking has increased by 45 per cent in the past five years, warns motor insurer AXA, together with Road Safety Analysis and road safety groups.
“International research seems to indicate that more children are being injured whilst on scooters — and anecdotally that trend is emerging in the UK,” said Dan Campsall, director at Road Safety Analysis.
“More children seem to be using scooters for the school run, with schools now also providing storage facilities to help this, but parents need to be aware of the risks.”
Mr Campsall added: “Children will tend to be moving faster and are more likely to be out of reach of a responsible adult, they are also less likely to wear protective equipment such as a helmet than if they were on a bike.”
Road Safety Analysis said that while more research was needed on travel by scooter, parents should make sure their children are appropriately equipped.
Research from New Zealand has revealed a five-fold rise in the number of injuries to children using micro-scooters for transport to school as well as for recreation and exercise, over the past five years.
In 2008 there were just 46 insurance claims for compensation after children were injured while using scooters. Last year the number of claims jumped to 309. “More and more children are using scooters to get to school, riding them without helmets, knee and elbow pads,” said the author of the Waikato University report, Trish Wolfaardt.
The study found that boys were more at risk than girls from scooter injuries.
Read More
Other findings in the AXA report are that 32 per cent of pedestrians in serious accidents during the school run are 11 to 12-year-olds, and the pedestrian casualty rate for girls rises steeply from the age of 11.
The findings were based on AXA-commissioned research from agency Opinium, which submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
AXA’s Facts About Road Accidents and Children report also said that mobile phone use by children could also be raising the number of accidents.
