PARENTS in Chorley are being urged to help cut the number of children killed and injured on the roads of blackspot Lancashire.

County highways chiefs say they hope more funding will be available to expand road safety initiatives.

But they want parents to play their part too by teaching children safety awareness, as Lancashire youngsters are more at risk due to the county's large urban areas carrying higher speed limits.

Startling Department of Transport statistics show that child pedestrians in the county are one-and-a-half times more likely to be killed and run an eight per cent higher risk of being seriously injured.

Although child pedestrian fatalities nationally fell by 62 per cent in the past 10 years, in Lancashire the reduction was just 12 per cent.

Serious injuries fell by just one per cent in Lancashire compared with 37 per cent nationally.

And slight injuries were down 20 per cent in the county compared to 23 per cent nationally.

In 1994 Lancashire had a child pedestrian fatality rate of 2 in 100,000 compared to the national rate of 1.3 in 100,000.

The DoT strategy document on child pedestrian safety in the UK lists a number of aims, including: more traffic-calmed 20mph zones especially on older housing estates; better targeting of road safety education; more use of mobile speed cameras at accident blackspots; publicity campaigns.

Coun Florence Molyneaux, vice-chairman of the borough's technical and general services committee, said: "We are doing our best for road safety. We are trying quite a few traffic calming measures so traffic doesn't speed which is the cause of most accidents."

County Coun Dennis Golden, chairman of Lancashire's highways and transportation committee, said: "The county council has been at the forefront of introducing projects to improve urban safety because of our concern at the high child pedestrian casualty rates in Lancashire.

"We also need the help of parents, particularly in urban areas, who can play a major part in increasing safety awareness in their children."

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