MORE than 550 children and almost 4,000 adults have been hit by cars near schools in Worcestershire over the past six years.

The figures were revealed in a survey by AXA insurance and research company Road Safety Analysis, which revealed 557,200 crashes took place within 500 metres of schools from 2006 to 2011, 85,814 of them resulting in a child being killed or injured.

Out of the 4,476 accidents recorded in Worcestershire during this period, 59 of them resulted in children being killed or seriously injured, with a further 500 resulting in less serious injuries.

The remaining 3,917 involved adults.

The survey is part of a national online database being put together by the two organisations showing the number of accidents around 29,142 schools in the country along with whether children or adults were involved as well as other data.

With the new school year starting this week, James Barclay, of AXA Car Insurance, said he hoped the database would help parents and other adults understand the risks involved in travelling to and from school.

“Child road safety is of paramount importance to everyone in Britain so the more that can be done to understand the facts, and therefore adapt infrastructure or education methods, the better,” he said.

“The Local Road Safety Index is a big step towards being able to truly understand how the infrastructure within local areas around schools needs to be developed to make roads safer for children.”

The survey showed there were 557,200 collisions within 500 metres of a school during the six-year period – an average of six per school per year – with the greatest number of injuries recorded in Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham.

Welsh drivers seem to be the safest, with Cardiff and Swansea showing the lowest number of crashes near schools. Although 37 per cent of school areas have had at least one child killed on their roads every year, 20 per cent reported none at all over the six-year period.

Road Safety Analysis director Dan Campsall said it was important for parents, schools and local authorities to have the data available and he hoped the database would help in this.

“The data can be used to support changes in local road safety education as well as the road environment, therefore helping to further safeguard pupils across the country,”

he said.

To view the database visit axainsurancezone.com/local roadsafetyindex