THE risk of children being seriously injured or killed on their way to school doubles when they reach secondary school age because parents become less attentive, a study has found.

Boys are particularly at risk in the autumn term when they start walking or cycling to school after years of being ferried in cars by their parents, according to a report by the AA Motoring Trust.

The longer journey to secondary school coupled with the greater freedom to be with friends contribute to the risk, with 150 11-year-olds killed or seriously injured each year compared with 75 10-year-olds.

“The greater independence brings with it a hugely increased risk of being killed or seriously injured in a road accident,” the report says. “The dangerous years are 11 and 12. By the time they reach 13 they have become more aware of hazards.”

Girls aged 14 and 15 face the danger of being injured in a car driven by a young male who may be showing off. A 15-year-old girl is three times as likely to be killed in a car as a 13-year-old. The AA said that the “increasingly sophisticated social life” of young teenagers, particularly girls dating older men, meant they were more likely to be out late with inexperienced drivers in dangerously overcrowded cars.

Just under 5,000 children under 16 were killed or seriously injured in road crashes in 2001. This was 200 lower than the previous year but the decline was insufficient to meet the Government’s target of reducing the annual casualty rate to 3,430 by 2010.

John Dawson, the director of the trust, said: “When a child is due to move to secondary school, parents should accompany them during the school holidays or at weekends on the journey they will make, pointing out potential danger spots and making sure they understand.

“The way that child deaths increase as they get older should be especially sobering to parents who traditionally believe that children are most at risk the younger they are.The reverse is true.”

Nick Ellis, school travel plans co-ordinator for Poole in Dorset, said that parents who drove their children to school deprived them of opportunities to learn about road safety.

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