NEWS KIDS CAN TRUST NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR*

NO TREES ARE
HARMED IN
THE MAKING
OF FIRST NEWS.
IT’S MADE FROM
100% RECYCLED
PAPER.

Issue 899 £2.85 8 – 14 September 2023

2 .6 M
DERS
ARE BRITAIN’S
*
REA

26
BOSSES COSTING
THE EARTH?
NEWS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT INTERVIEWS PUZZLES COMPETITIONS

OUR ANNUAL CAMPAIGN BACK-TO

TO WARN CHILDREN -SCHOOL
OF THE DANGERS OF
CROSSING ROADS WHILE SPECIAL
USING MOBILE PHONES p11-18
20

TAKE OUR
HARRY
MONTH POTTER
FRIENDS
QUIZ

K UP!
LOO
FACT 27
ERLING
A class-size of child pedestrians
is killed or seriously injured EVERY
HAALAND’S
BARMY
week in the UK. It’s time to LOOK UP! BEDTIME!
* Newspaper Awards 2023, Niche market Newspaper of the Year. First News readership is 2,626,625. Source: Opinion Matters 2020. First News is the widest-read of all children’s publications audited in the UK. First News supports children’s charities.
20
by Shelley Moulden, Milly
Rusling and Nicky Cox Look Up campaign! Issue 899
8 – 14 September 2023

iStock
We’re calling on every school to hold a Look Up! assembly to warn you THE TRAGIC STORY OF A SCHOOL
about the dangers of looking at your phone while crossing the road. GIRL AND A WARNING FROM HER
DEVASTATED PARENTS
SEPTEMBER is First News’ Look Up! month – our that phones are a growing distraction for pedestrians, A teenager died after walking in front of a bus while
campaign to warn you of the dangers of crossing the affecting whether they cross a road safely. There’s even distracted by her mobile phone. Sian Ellis, 15, suffered
road while looking at your phone. We’re calling on all a name for people distracted by their phones: SMOMBIES fatal injuries when she was hit by a double-decker
schools nationwide to hold an assembly about the (smartphones + zombies). bus outside her school in Leicestershire on 28 January
dangers of mobile phone distraction. Your teachers can 2019. The accident happened shortly after 3:30pm,
get a free assembly pack with video – bottom right! just metres from the gates of King Edward VII College.

P!
Almost a third of Brits Giving evidence at the inquest (official investigation)

OK U
LO
REAL DANGERS admitted to using their into her death, PC Stuart Bird, a collision investigator

FACT
with Leicestershire Police, said CCTV footage
Road accidents are one of the main reasons that young phone when crossing
taken shortly before the tragedy showed a female
people die. The 2022 Government figures (still being the road in 2021. matching Sian’s description “walking through the
finalised) show that 4,913 pedestrians, aged 15 and
school grounds wearing a scarf around her head and
under, were hurt on UK roads last year. Tragically, 1,417 of
looking down at her mobile phone”. His colleague,
those were either killed or left with serious, life-changing THE FACTS Detective Constable John Borlase, said witnesses
injuries. That’s around four child pedestrians a day, or
had told him Sian was looking down at her mobile
a class of 28 children every week! Government public While almost a third of Brits admitted to using their
and was also using headphones. Sian’s devastated
health experts, who are working to reduce the number phone when crossing the road in 2021, research carried
family issued a warning to other young people about
of child injuries on the roads, say the largest number out by AXA insurance company found that 21% of
the use of their phones near traffic. “While we have to
of child pedestrian injuries take place between 8am 11-year-olds and 25% of 12-year-olds say that they
come to terms with this tragic accident, we must try
to 9am and between 3pm to 7pm. Further data shows have been distracted by a screen while crossing a road.
to help others learn from it and to stress the dangers
that children aged 12 are the most likely to be involved To find out more, researchers at the University of
of the use of mobile phones and the distractions that
in an accident, when many young people are walking Calgary pulled together data from 33 studies and
these can cause when walking by, and crossing, busy
independently to, and from, school for the first time. looked at the impact of phones on road safety. They
roadways. We see this every day and hope that, if
looked at how long it took 808 children and adults to
ARE YOU A SMOMBIE? anything good can come from this, it is that other
start walking, begin and complete crossing a road,
Although many people get distracted by their phones children (and adults) will have learned not to put
whenever they looked left or right and if there were any
while out and about, children are the most affected. themselves in similar danger.”
collisions and close calls with other pedestrians and
And, with research carried out by Childwise revealing vehicles. They found that, while talking on the phone
that 53% of children in the UK own a mobile phone by made people take longer to cross the road, texting was
the age of seven, it’s not surprising that it’s turning into the most dangerous action as it stopped people looking
a problem. Different studies over the years have shown left and right as much as they should. A study by the
University of Lincoln found that nearly a third of road
A LOOK UP! ASSEMBLY
crossings made by secondary school pupils involved a
phone or other device and that the students looked left
IN EVERY SCHOOL!
iStock

and right less frequently because of this. First News has created a free
Look Up! assembly pack
“Every hour of every day, a teen is hit for every school so you
remember to put down
UP!
or killed while walking. Texting and
LOOK
your phones.
E
walking can be fatal. That’s why

QUOT
we’re asking everyone to put phones Teachers – For the assembly
down when crossing the street.” pack, head to first.news/
lookupteachers
– Safe Kids Worldwide