A ROAD safety charity is calling for more road-safety education for young people.

Each year Beep Beep! Day sees thousands of children aged two to seven up and down Britain are taking part with Brake, the road safety charity, to learn about keeping safe near roads.

This year’s Beep Beep! Day comes as Brake highlights stark child road casualty statistics. The latest official figures reveal that the number of children aged seven or under killed in collisions on Britain’s roads increased by 53 per cent, from 2023 to 2024.

Overall, the number of children aged seven or younger who died or sustained injuries in crashes fell by six per cent to 3,158. As well as 26 deaths, the total includes 546 serious injuries and 2,586 slight injuries. Of the 572 under-7s killed or seriously injured, 322 were walking and 18 were cycling.

In January, the government announced a new strategy for improving road safety in Britain, with targets to reduce child road deaths and serious injuries by 70 per cent by 2035.

Brake has run Beep Beep! Days for more than 20 years. A spokesperson for the charity said: “We know that all childcare providers, schools and families share concern for the risk to children’s lives on our roads, and Beep Beep! Day is a great way to help them approach this issue.

“Hundreds of schools, nurseries and childminders signed up to get involved this year and share important road safety messages with youngsters and their parents and carers.

“Beep Beep! Days focus on three simple things to help keep young children safer near roads – holding hands with a grown-up when walking, crossing roads at safe places, and always using a child seat when travelling by car. They also send an important reminder to everyone to use roads safely to protect all road users.”