01/02/2008

Brake, the national road safety charity, is urging nursery schools, childminders and pre-school groups to get involved in its national campaign Beep Beep! Day, aimed at teaching lifesaving road safety lessons to children aged eight years and under.

The annual campaign, now in its fifth year, is organised by Brake in partnership with Churchill Car Insurance, to help reduce the horrific numbers of pre-schoolers killed and injured on our roads each year.

Every 18 minutes a child is hurt on UK roads[1].

In 2007, more than 35,000 children from over 1,000 nurseries registered to take part. The tots used their 'ride on' toys in the playground to learn basic road safety lessons like the importance of the word stop. Some nurseries raised sponsorship money for Brake’s work to prevent death and injury on the roads and care for families affected by road crashes, raising more than £45,000 in 2007. Nurseries can also involve parents, by inviting them to attend as volunteer supervisors and educators.

Organisations that hold a Beep Beep! Day receive a FREE action pack containing guidelines and resources including stickers, colour-in sheets, placards, posters and activity sheets. Early years educators can hold their Beep Beep! Day on any date in 2008.

To order an information pack, contact Sarah Howe at Brake on 01484 530070/ 01484 559909 or email beepbeep@brake.org.uk with your name, the name of your nursery or playgroup, and day-time telephone number.

Sarah Fatica, general manager at Brake, says: “Beep Beep! Day is back. It’s vital that young children are targeted with life saving road safety messages as soon as possible and that is why we are calling on all nurseries, childminders and playgroups to get involved. It is our hope that together with your superb efforts, Beep Beep! Day 2008 will be the biggest and most successful yet.”

Abi Clark, spokesperson for Churchil Car Insurance added: "It is horrifying so many young children are killed and seriously injured every day on UK roads. We hope this initiative will not only help children develop basic skills to stay safe on the roads for the rest of their lives, but also encourage drivers everywhere to drive more carefully."

Marion Elliott, childminder in Chobham, Surrey, who took part in the 2007 event says: “Holding a Beep Beep! Day in 2007 really helped us communicate vitally important road safety messages to the kids. Brake provided all the support and resources we needed to run a really fun and informative event and we will definitely be running another one in the future.”

For queries and to arrange interviews, contact Chris Frost at Brake on 01484 531774/ 01484 559909 or cfrost@brake.org.uk

-Ends-

For more information please contact:
RBS Insurance Press Office
Tel: 0208 285 3277

Notes for Editors

[1] Based on DfT and PSNI figures for 2006 for children aged 0 - 16.

Brake is an independent, national road safety charity. Brake exists to stop the 9 deaths and 82 serious injuries that happen on UK roads every day and to care for families bereaved and seriously injured in road crashes. Brake produces educational road safety literature, runs community training programmes and runs events including Road Safety Week. BrakeCare, Brake’s support division, cares for road crash victims through a helpline and other services. Brake’s Forum for fleet professionals, the Fleet Safety Forum, provides up-to-date fleet safety resources to fleet managers.

Brake is a registered charity, number 1093244.

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