CHILDREN are taking their lives in their own hands every day when they try to cross a busy South Lakeland road to get to school, according to parents.

Many pupils from St Thomas’s School in Kendal Green, Kendal, have to negotiate the heavy traffic on Windermere Road to arrive safely for lessons, and now their parents believe something must be done before an accident happens.

Their campaign is being led by mother of two Amy Wheatley who has sent a petition to Cumbria County Council urging them to install a pedestrian crossing near the junction with Underley Road.

“Many motorists speed along here and the traffic just does not slow down when we are trying to get across. It just would not be safe to let children cross on their own, so you cannot foster any independence in them.

“There are at least 20 primary age children living on this part of Windermere Road. There is also a disabled lady in a wheelchair that lives in the vicinity. The speed and weight of traffic coming into Kendal is getting worse. It is hard to find a safe opportunity to cross.”

Mrs Wheatley believes it would fit in with the county council’s Better Ways To School initiative, encouraging more children to cross safely, as well as allowing residents on the Kendal Green side of the road to access Kendal Fell and Serpentine Woods.

Another concerned parent, Fe Wolley, has three children at the school, said: “You don’t feel safe at all. A group of us does the school walk twice a day, sometimes more, and we will have prams and so on. We stand on the refuge in the middle of the road and nobody will let you across.”

The parents’ efforts are supported by the school, and Paul Brown, headteacher, said: “I back the campaign 100 per cent. It is a dangerous road for children to cross, particularly unsupervised.

“Our catchment area is split by Windermere Road and it is an incredibly busy and highly populated with traffic. There are no means of a pedestrian having any control over the traffic, right the way from Plumgarth's roundabout to St Thomas’s Church, and the crossing there isn’t particularly safe and has a very long wait.

“A crossing by Underley Road would be the best as it is fairly flat there and you can see both ways.”

A Cumbria County Council spokesman said: “Any petitions we receive are given full consideration.

“This particular petition will be passed to the county council’s local committee for South Lakeland to allow the proposals for a pedestrian crossing to be investigated.”