Parents have been warned that their poor driving habits and lack of road safety skills are being picked up by their children.
Government research has found that 54% of parents admit to poor road safety behaviour in front of their children.

“Simply telling our children about how to use our roads safely is not enough – parents must practice what they preach or their sons and daughters will slip into dangerous habits,” said road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick.

“Last year, 169 children were killed and another 3,000 seriously injured in road accidents.”

As a result, a new series of road safety workshops has been launched in schools across England.

The workshops will be held in Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Birmingham and Bristol, and aim to give parents an insight into how their behaviour on the road can pass dangerous habits on to their children.

“Copycat learning is one of the key ways children establish their behaviour, so setting a bad example when it comes to road safety can have serious consequences,” said Liz Brooker, of the Local Authority Road Safety Officers’ Organisation.