THIS is how many children have been involved in serious crashes in Southend in the past five years.

Data released by crashmap.co.uk shows the hot spots for road crashes that have involved children every year in Southend since 2016.

Proceeding from the east of the Southend borough to the west, a two-vehicle crash took place on Poynters Lane in Great Wakering on July 7, 2017.

This saw four people seriously injured, all of which were children.

Another two-vehicle crash happened on October 20, 2017 involved two vehicles which saw one child injured.

On June 8 that year, a single-car crash happened outside Richmond Avenue Primary School, injuring one child.

Into 2018, and a serious crash injured a child on Burlescoombe Road in Thorpe Bay, injuring one child.

The roundabout on Royal Artillery Way next to the McDonald’s restaurant also saw a crash on March 8, 2017, injuring one child.

Jumping ahead to 2019, and a serious crash on Hamstel Road injured one child near the Hamstel Children and Family Centre, on June 14, injuring one child.

On July 17, 2018, just around the corner on Central Avenue, another crash seriously injured a child.

A child was seriously injured on Pier Hill at Southend seafront on June 30, 2019, which is the only recorded seafront crash from now back to 2016 involving a child.

Up in Prittlewell on East Street, two crashes have been recorded, one on July 7, 2016 outside the Railway Tavern, with one person injured, and on February 10, 2018 at the junction with Victoria Avenue, involving two cars and injuring five people.

Echo:

Also in Prittlewell was one crash on Salisbury Avenue on April 26, 2019 with four vehicles involved, injuring two people, and two injures on February 11, 2020 on the A13 near the Londis store.

There were three further crashes reported on the A13 through Westcliff, two near the Palace Theatre in August 2017 injuring one child, and another in October 2019 which also injured one person.

The final crash recorded on the A13 – or London Road – was at the junction with Southbourne Grove on October 8, 2017, involving two vehicles and injuring one.

Two crashes were also recorded on Hobleythick Lane, near the junction with the A127, in April 2017 and July 2019, both of which had one serious injury.

Overall, from 2016 to 2020 there were 36 children injured in serious crashes in the Southend borough. The crashes mainly consisted of single-vehicle collisions, with only a few having two or more cars involved.

What should you do after a crash?

According to the AA immediately after the incident you should: Stop the car as soon as possible – it's an offence not to do so.

  • Turn off the engine.
  • Switch the hazard lights on.
  • Check for any injuries to yourself or your passengers.
  • If it's a minor collision and there are no injuries, make a note of it just in case the other people later try to claim for an injury.
  • Call the police and an ambulance immediately if anyone is hurt or if the road is blocked.
  • Try to remain as calm as possible – its normal to be shaken after an accident, take a few deep breaths and try to take stock of the situation the best you can. And don't lose your temper.
  • Don't apologise or admit responsibility for the accident until you're completely aware of what happened – this can protect you from liability if it wasn't your fault.

For more information or to see how many crashes occurred on your road, click here.