Research shows entire primary school injured every year during school run

Every year, 443 children in London – equivalent to a whole primary school – suffer injuries – on the school run alone.

“We wanted to shine a light on the very real danger that children face getting to school. As parents, we see and feel it every school day. We wanted to turn that experience into numbers that councils can understand, to demonstrate the need for immediate action,” said Claire McDonald, co-founder of Solve The School Run.

According to analysis of Transport for London road collision data by parent campaigners Solve The School Run, the trip to school is one of the most dangerous journeys many children make.

• Despite it only being 7% of a child’s waking day over a year, it accounts for 21% of all road injuries to children.

The data analysis focused on 8-8.59 am and 3.15-4.14 pm during London school term time. The research covers official accident information in the past three years (2022 – 2024).

• Children are disproportionately at risk if they walk or cycle to school. Children walking and cycling to school in London make up 57% of all school run journeys, whilst making up 78% of school run casualties.

This demonstrates the need for councils to take much more action to protect children as they make their way to school, particularly given that almost all children will need to walk, for at least some of their journey.

London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, said: “Every death and injury on London’s roads is a tragedy, and especially when it involves a child. The Mayor, TfL and London Boroughs are committed to eliminating deaths and serious injuries on the roads. We are investing heavily to reduce road danger and to make it easier and safer for children to walk, cycle and scoot to school. London now has over 800 school streets, a cycle network of over 400km and we are transforming dangerous junctions and pedestrian crossings across the capital.”

McDonald adds, “Councils have the power to transform the journey to school for thousands of children. And many of them are already doing it, with school streets, bike lanes and increased parking tariffs on SUVs. But we want more. We want councillors to pledge to save children’s lives, give them back their independence and bring the joy of freedom into their lives. They can do this by committing to our pledge.”

School run traffic makes up over 25% of morning rush hour traffic. Across the capital, nearly a quarter of pupils in London (24%) are driven to primary school every weekday, which equates to an extra 240,000 car trips on the roads during each of the morning and afternoon rush hours.

Call to action

Solve the School Run, together with Clean Cities, is calling on all councils to sign up to their Safer Streets for Kids manifesto ahead of next year’s election. This includes calls to implement school streets, which restrict car traffic at pick up and drop off times, and action to discourage SUVs with higher parking charges, a vehicle type which is, by design, farm more dangerous for children.