Being brave on the school run

Image: Crispin Hughes / Clean Cities Campaign / Climate Visuals

We are very happy to see the road safety and supporting active travel to school Westminster Hall debate, scheduled for next Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025. We think it's an under-discussed topic, and this is a great chance to highlight the issues.

We applaud the government’s target of increasing walking to school rates from 51% nationwide to 55% by 2025. But we feel this should be accompanied by measures to ensure it is safe for children. We think currently this isn't the case, and actually our roads are getting more dangerous. One reason is the increase in the number of SUVs being sold in this country. In 2024 they accounted for 62% of new car sales in the UK. Research shows that children struck by an SUV are eight times more likely to be killed than those hit by a normal car. 

Government data* shows that the school run is already very dangerous. Children between the ages of 11 and 15  - who are more likely to be travelling independently to secondary school - are the majority of children killed or seriously injured on the road. It also shows the peak hours for children dying or being seriously injured on the road are between 8-9am, and 3-4pm.

We know from our own London-wide data that while 25% of children are driven to school each day, 75% are walking, cycling or taking public transport. But they are doing this at the most dangerous time of day, when school run traffic added to rush hour traffic brings the road network to capacity.

The congestion this causes reduces visibility, as well as encourages double parking, idling, stop/starting. This type of driving increases air pollution and research shows children are exposed to up to five times more air pollution on the school run than at any other time.

The irony is that children are legally obliged to attend school - this journey is one they have no choice but to do, at these allotted times. We welcome any discussion of these issues, and action from our politicians to reduce the number of oversized vehicles on our streets, threatening our children's safety and freedom.

*This data is from 2015, there is nothing extrapolated from more recent data, but as far as we are aware and according to Brake there has not been any significant change to the number of people killed and injured on our roads in the last decade.