TRAFFIC chiefs are to try to make Bolton roads safer to encourage parents to allow their children to walk or cycle to school.

Two schools have been chosen for an experiment to find out if cutting the likelihood of accidents persuades parents to leave their cars at home.

Children at the Withins School in Breightmet and St James's in Farnworth will be quizzed about how they get to school and why they choose the way they travel.

They will also be asked to draw their usual route on a map, highlight danger hotspots and suggest how they can be made safer.

Then the children will help highway experts carry out work such as counting cars and designing safer routes as part of their lessons.

Cash has been set aside for work such as traffic calming measures, lower speed limits or cycle lanes which the council hope will persuade parents to let their children walk or cycle to both schools.

Skills

It is hoped that walking to school will help children gain vital road safety skills and make them more aware of pedestrians and cyclists when they become drivers of the future.

Withins and St James's were chosen because they are near busy commuter routes and have many primary schools nearby which would also benefit from any road improvements.

Bolton's road safety chief Trevor Higson said: "There are probably several factors involved in why parents choose to take their children to school by car but road safety is usually one of them.

"This is about providing parents and children with a choice to walk or cycle to school in safety."

Health chiefs have paid for the research because it ties in with their plans to try and cut the number of child road accident victims admitted to hospital and encourage young people to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Road safety officials say it is the first major project of its kind in Bolton but educating motorists and children will play as much a part as speed humps and pelican crossings.

Mr Higson explained: "People need to realise children do do things on the spur of the moment and it is no longer good enough for drivers to say that a child dashed out.

"We could help by giving drivers visual clues to the areas they are in. If we can provide them with a visual message that there is increased pedestrian or cycle use in certain areas, they will realise the need to slow down."

The Safer Routes to School project ties in with national moves to encourage pupils to walk to school to cut traffic, reduce accidents and improve health.

Research shows children constantly being ferried about by their parents are more likely to be injured in a road accident because car passengers are in greater danger than pedestrians and the youngsters do not develop vital traffic skills.

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