It is impossible, unless you are very lucky, to keep traffic off residential streets - there will always be cars negotiating the roads, residents who need to get to and from their houses, and deliveries.

With that in mind, children should always be taught the dangers of the roads and how to behave sensibly around them, even if they live on the quietest streets.

What no-one deserves, however, is to have their street used as a makeshift race-track by idiots driving cars far too fast for residential areas, or as obstacle courses for vehicles such as quad-bikes, designed for off-road use.

That, unfortunately, is what the residents of Holme Wood have had to put up with, watching in horror as cars reach speeds of up to 60 mph on their roads.

They are calling for traffic-calming measures such as bollards to be installed on their road to slow down the drivers and stop quad bikers using their street to cut into an embankment for their fun, and it is difficult to disagree with them given what they are put through night after night.

When people band together in this way - the residents have got up a petition calling for action - those in power must at the very least listen and discuss with them just what options are available to improve the quality of their life.

It is not, after all, just a case of residents wanting a quieter time of it. There are many families living on the street, and should a child be injured or even killed it will be too late. The warnings must be heeded now.