Over 1,000 pupils a month injured in road accidents near schools

As many as 37 per cent of local school areas had at least one child casualty each year from 2006 to 2011, the statistics from Axa Car Insurance and research body Road Safety Analysis show.

In this six-year period, there were 85,814 child casualties on roads in a 500-metre radius around British schools, the equivalent of 1,190 a month. Twenty per cent of schools reported no child casualties in the period 2006-11.

The figures also show that there were 557,200 vehicle collisions around schools in the period, the equivalent of six collisions per school per year on average.

These collisions included any incident reported to police involving any vehicle on a local road. Some of these collisions did not result in injuries.

Top area for collisions in the six-year period was London, which accounted for 13 per cent of the child casualties nationally and 22 per cent of collisions overall.

Looking at cities with more than 100 schools, excluding London, the figures showed that from 2006 to 2011 Liverpool had the highest number of road injuries (deaths, serious injuries and slight injuries) around schools, followed by Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester.

Again excluding London, the city area with the most number of serious incidents (deaths and serious injuries) was Nottingham, followed by Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester.

Taking all collisions, including non-injury ones, into account, the school area with the most was Nottingham, followed by Manchester, Liverpool and Leicester. The area with the most child injuries was Manchester, followed by Liverpool, Bradford and Oldham.

Axa and Road Safety Analysis have now launched the local road safety index, showing which areas have the best safety records.

James Barclay, of Axa, said: “Child road safety is of paramount importance to everyone in Britain so the more that can be done to understand the facts, and therefore adapt infrastructure or education methods, the better.”

Road Safety Analysis director Dan Campsall said: “Translating this wealth of data into something that is meaningful for parents, teachers and community leaders has its challenges.

“However, it is important that these groups are able to understand the immediate road risks around their local schools if they are going to work effectively to secure safer communities for children in the future.”

The figures include collisions during school holidays and the child casualty numbers do not necessarily refer to pupils at that particular school.