Almost twice as many children were killed or seriously injured on Essex roads last year than in the previous 12 months.
The figures, which have just been released, come despite a fall in the total number of road users severely hurt or killed across the county in the same period.
Road safety groups have called on road users to heed warnings in a bid to drive down the number of fatal and serious road crashes.
The figures were compiled as part of a national report and show that out of 1,152 serious casualty or fatal accidents on the roads in 2005, 102 victims were children, compared with 56 children killed or seriously injured out of 1,280 serious or fatal accidents in 2004.
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