Road safety risk higher for low-income families

Road safety campaigns should target poor families, as they are most at risk, according to a new investigation.

A study by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) claims socioeconomic factors – like lack of gardens and poor street design – mean children from cash-strapped families are more likely to be killed or injured.

Poor children have to cross 50 per cent more roads than those from the highest income bracket and are more likely to play in streets.

The number of road fatalities per 100,000 children whose parents were unemployed or had never worked was 21 times higher for pedestrians, 5.5 times higher for car occupants and 27.5 times higher for cyclists compared to the children of professionals.