PARENTS are calling for safety measures on a busy road which hundreds of children cross on school days.

There are three schools and a college in Woodhouse Lane, Bishop Auckland, and campaigners calling for crossings on the road say children risk their lives every time they try to cross it.

Warwick Road Special School, for children with disabilities, St Wilfrids RC Aided Primary School, St John's RC Comprehensive School, Bishop Barrington School and Bishop Auckland College are all situated on or near the road, which is one of the main routes into town.

Durham County Council says it is considering a number of traffic calming measures, but many parents are calling for urgent alterations to be made.

Doreen Kett, whose grandchildren have to cross Woodhouse Lane to get to St Anne's Primary School, in Warwick Road, has started a petition calling for traffic calming measures and has collected several hundred signatures.

She began the petition after seeing a child from a local primary school almost knocked down by a motorist.

She said: "There have been two fatalities on that road over the last ten years and they have all been primary children. When children get off the school buses they walk in front of the traffic. We must have traffic calming measures. What price can you put on a child's life?

"I cross that road several times a day and watch mothers trying to get children across and getting stuck in the middle of the road, and it's just getting worse."

Headteachers Henry Jopling, from St Anne's Primary School, and Keith Cotgrave, from Bishop Barrington School, both said they would welcome any improvements that would make the road safer for students.

A spokesman for Durham County Council said one of the traffic calming measures being considered included the creation of a cycle lane, which could be started within the financial year.