HAMPSHIRE is one of the 10 worst areas in the country for road accidents involving child pedestrians, according to government figures. The latest figures, provided by the Department for Transport, revealed that more than 900 children were involved in accidents on the county's roads last year - making it the seventh worst in the country. Only Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, Strathclyde, Lancashire and Merseyside faired worse. The figures have led two national children's charities to call on the government to do more to stop the "slaughter of child pedestrians". End Child Poverty (ECP) and NCH want to see motorists urged to cut their speed and streets to be made more child friendly, rather than car friendly, to slash the number of children involved in road accidents. ECP Director Jonathan Stearn said: "It is very worrying that nationally, the number of child pedestrians killed on our roads has increased by four per cent to 77. "The violent death of a child is an avoidable tragedy which devastates families and communities. "We know from pilot schemes that by reducing car speeds and congestion and by making streets child friendly, rather than car friendly, we can cut the number of children killed on the roads. These measures should be introduced in Hampshire without delay." According to a government report entitled Making the Connection : Final Report on Transport and Social Exclusion, children from poorer backgrounds are five times more likely to die in road accidents than those from wealthier backgrounds. George McNamara, policy advisor at NCH, said: "The number of child pedestrian deaths has increased since last year. It is a fact that a child living in a deprived area is more likely to die on the road than those living in more affluent parts of the country. "Improving child road safety in Hampshire must be a priority for policy makers and it is essential that the government works with local authorities, particularly in areas of high deprivation, and prioritises resources to make our roads safer for children." By 2010, the government wants to see the number of children killed or seriously injured on the roads reduced by half. Sarette Martin, spokeswoman for Hampshire County Council, said the county council's own figures showed that the number of child casualties last year had fallen. She said: "Our figures show that there were 595 child casualties on county council roads in 2004. This represents a reduction of 28 per cent from the national baseline of the average of the years 1994-98. Serious child casualties dropped by 40 per cent to 64, and fatal child casualties remained static at three. Total child pedestrian casualties (from the baseline) have reduced by a fifth to 191, with serious casualties cut by 32 per cent to 36, with one fatal. "The figures from the DfT are not the numbers of child casualties per head of population, which would give a more accurate reflection of the situation in Hampshire, but total numbers of child casualties. Hampshire is a large county in terms of population, and as such it's not surprising that it appears on this list. "The county council has fully embraced the government's very stretching targets for reducing the most serious child casualties by a half by 2010. Our results show that we're ahead of our target position. "We've put considerable energies into our child road safety education, training and engineering programmes, supported by our travel planning and Safer Routes to Schools work."
