Boys are twice as likely to be killed on the roads as girls, according to a Government study that has prompted calls for compulsory road safety training for young males.
Parents who give their sons more freedom than their daughters may unwittingly be contributing to the higher death rate for boys, who are more likely to take risks.
The study, carried out by the Department for Transport, found that 64% of under-16s killed or seriously injured on the roads in 2006 were male.
Almost 1,300 boy pedestrians were killed or seriously injured, compared with 700 girls. The difference was even greater among child cyclists - more than 400 boys were killed or seriously injured, compared with fewer than 100 girls.
The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said that the casualty rate among boys was higher partly because they spent more time on the streets unsupervised and partly because they engaged in riskier behaviour.
Well, I can certainly concur with this as my ten-year-old son rallies up his friends in the village where we live to go and play football up on the green. Despite teaching him from a very early age how to cross the road, I still keep a watchful eye as his concentration is fixed firmly on his mate’s house and not on safely crossing the road.
While I keep a closer tab on my daughter, maybe some of this protectiveness should apply to my son!
FemaleFirst - Jackie Violet