Children's Freedom and Safety

Mayer Hillman
Policy Studies Institute
London, England

John G.U. Adams
University College
London, England

Citation: Hillman, Mayer and John G.U. Adams (1992). "Children's Freedom and Safety." Children's Environments 9 (2): 12-33. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

Accident statistics provide a misleading measure of children's safety or danger. In Britain, there are now half as many children killed every year in road accidents as there were in 1923, despite a more than 25-fold increase in traffic. Surveys of English primary school children in 1971 and 1990 reveal large decreases in their freedom to travel independently. In 1971, 80 percent of 7- and 8-year-old children got to school on their own unaccompanied by an adult. By 1990, this figure had dropped to 9 percent. The principal cause of this decrease is their parents' fear of traffic.

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