The BMJ has published an interesting article on the effect of street design on child safety and health in the UK which may be of interest to civic societies.
The article explores the impact of ever-increasing volumes of traffic on paediatric health and wellbeing. It examines potential street design solutions that may hold the key to reversing this trend and better protecting the potential for children to engage in outdoor play and independent socialisation.
Across the UK, people concerned by the gradual erosion of such opportunities are coming together to campaign for such changes to make their streets safer and therefore healthier places for both themselves and their children. The roots of this movement, its successes so far and onward political progress towards this objective are also described.
Civic Voice CEO Rob Hattersley commented: ‘At heart, the civic movement is about people, and how the design and upkeep of our built environments can improve lives or make them harder. Safer streets for children is something very close to my heart as a former primary teacher and road safety educator, but we need to focus more on street design than we do on teaching children to be safe in a dangerous environment created by adults. I very much hope the civic movement can be part of a change to safer streets.’