Plea over children's road safety in winter months

Reflective armbands should be issued to every schoolchild in the country to cut the number of tragic accidents in winter months, it was claimed today.

Calls were also made for reduced speed limits to be enforced outside schools all over the country.

Fine Gael Front Bench Deputy, Denis Naughten, said it is particularly important now that the hour has gone back to ensure the safety of youngsters walking to and from school in the dark.

“Ireland has the highest rate of child pedestrian deaths in the EU with nearly 1,600 children killed or injured while walking on our roads in the six years from 1998 to 2003,” he said.

“Poor visibility on our roads, particularly during winter, is a significant factor.

“This year, to date, almost a fifth of the road deaths recorded by the Gardaí were pedestrian fatalities.

“School children are at their most vulnerable at this time of year because of poor visibility and dangerous road conditions in the early mornings and in the evenings.

“For this reason it makes sense that the Department of Education issues every school-going child with a reflective armband, or jackets bearing a road safety message.”

Mr Naughten said educating young people about the importance of road safety will result in a drop in the shockingly high levels of injury and death on our roads.

“No person can enter a building site without a reflective jacket, yet our children are walking along our roads, invisible to motorists during the long, dark nights of the winter months,” he added.

“Reducing speed limits outside schools is another measure which will prevent further child pedestrian fatalities.

“The Department of Transport should immediately provide funding for local authorities to enable councils to proceed with the implementation of special reduced speed limits outside schools.

“Legislation to reduce speed limits outside schools has been in force since January 2005 but local authorities have yet to establish these special speed limits outside our schools.”