A regional publisher is backing a campaign by a children’s newspaper to keep young pedestrians safe on the streets.

JPIMedia has lent its support to the ‘Look Up!’ campaign, which has been launched by First News to raise awareness of the dangers posed by using mobile phones while crossing the road.

Around 50 children aged between 11 and 14 are killed or seriously injured on UK roads each month.

The drive urges young pedestrians not to become ‘Smombies – Smart Phone Zombies’ after research found a clear link between the use of mobile devices and the time of serious accidents involving children.

A study by the University of Lincoln published in 2019 looked at mobile phone use by schoolchildren while crossing the road, observing pupils outside a secondary school in the north of England over a four-week period.

The researchers found that nearly a third of road crossings were made by pupils with a phone or other device and that they looked less frequently when they had them.  The issue is particularly prominent at the end of the school day.

First News launched the campaign on its front page on Friday, pictured above.

The latest partnership follows a tie-up between JPI and First News launched last year which saw the publisher launch a weekly ‘Children’s Home Page’ across its portfolio of titles.