Over protection puts your children at greater risk


http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/motoring/over-protection-puts-your-children-at-greater-risk-1080215.html

Friday September 14 2007

EXPOSURE to danger may help save children's lives, according to an
extraordinary claim made this week.

It says that parents who forbid their children to cross roads alone may
be unintentionally preventing them from learning vital lessons in how to
avoid becoming an accident statistic.

While the study was conducted in Britain, it undoubtedly resonates here.

The number of children in Britain who are never allowed to cross a road
unsupervised has risen each year for the past five years, and the number
of child pedestrians killed there is also rising.

Now the UK Department for Transport research has found that, last year,
49pc of parents with children aged seven to 10 said they never allowed
them to cross the road on their own. This compared with a figure of 41pc
in 2002.

Over the same period, the number of child pedestrians killed in that age
range rose from 10 to 18.

The overall rate of road deaths in Britain for all children under 16
rose by 20pc between 2005 and 2006, from 141 to 169.

Britain's Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said
parents needed to understand the risks of being overprotective regarding
their children.

"Parents should consider whether or not forbidding their children from
crossing the road unaccompanied is exposing them subsequently to
additional risk," said the council's director Rob Gifford. "They may not
acquire the skills they need. Children need to learn to cross the road
on their own."

Mr Gifford added that parents who attempted to avoid exposing their
children to danger by driving them to school were actually contributing
to a dangerous vicious circle.

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