A MOTHER fears a child could be killed on a busy Farnworth road used daily by pupils from three local schools.

Hazel Broome is campaigning for the installation of more safe crossing points to slow down or stop traffic on Highfield Road near to St James' Secondary School and Highfield and Our Lady of Lourdes primary schools.

She claims there is a massive amount of traffic on the road at the start and finish of the school day, with parents dropping off and picking up their children, and rows of parked cars straddling pavements.

The mother of three added that the problem was further aggravated by high numbers of double deck buses regularly travelling up and down the road.

She said the closest safe crossing point was at the other end of Highfield Road near to Cherry Tree Primary School which she says is too far away for youngsters from the three other schools to realistically use.

Hundreds of pupils cross Highfield Road to get to St James School in Lucas Road, Our Lady of Lourdes in Beech Avenue and Highfield School in Marsh Lane.

Mother of three Miss Broome said: "Children are put at risk daily by careless drivers who are both ignorant and don't seem to care about rules on parking."

Miss Broome, who has one child at St James' and two younger children at Highfield, has been taking at least one of her children across the road for the past nine years and she says the volume of traffic has steadily increased over that time.

She said the final straw came last week -- after years of witnessing a string of near misses -- when she noticed one driver park up, drop her child off and then reverse into the wrong side of the road as oncoming traffic advanced.

Margaret Parrish, Headteacher of Highfield Primary School said she agreed with Miss Broome about severe traffic congestion at the beginning and end of the school day, and she supported Miss Broome's crossing request.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "We have a school crossing patrol at Cherry Tree School and a patrol on the Plodder Lane/Marsh Lane junction for the other primary schools and St James's School. This is usually manned by two people although there is one vacancy there at the moment for which we are recruiting."

Parents and residents with any views on the issue can write to Trevor Higson, Senior Road Safety Officer, Road Safety Unit, 4th Floor, The Wellsprings, Bolton, BL1 1US.