CHILDREN living in deprived areas of the North-East will benefit from a share of £2.2m to improve their road safety skills.

The money will be spent training volunteers, who will teach road safety skills to youngsters aged five to seven in schools in 24 local authority areas across the country, including Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northumberland, Redcar and Cleveland, and South Tyneside. Each council will receive £90,000 over three years.

According to the Department of Transport, children in deprived areas are five times more likely to be killed while out walking than children from better-off areas.

Road Safety Minister David Jamieson said: "We have one of the best road safety records in the world and we are getting better all the time at protecting our children. But we must not be complacent. Our aim is to continue to improve.

"It is vital to teach young children practical skills in crossing the road at an early stage - skills which they will take with them throughout their life.

"Through this funding, children will be taught about how to find safe places to cross the road, how to cross safely between parked cars, and how to cross safely near junctions."

A spokesman for Middlesbrough Council said: "The money will ensure that we can expand our scheme for pupils in years one to three which teaches them roadside training and how to be safe.

"We will be able to expand the number of schools who get this training from ten to a total of 30 schools across the town. Volunteers are first taught themselves and then teach the children how to be safe."

"Between 1999 and 2001, there were 42 road casualties including minor, severe and fatalities, among five to nine year olds in this area. That is the scale of the problem we are trying to tackle."