Families are demanding new safety measures on a main road crossed by 1,500 children a day.

A 600-name petition will be sent to Bradford Council warning of dangers on Horton Grange Road. The campaigners say a child is in a road accident every six weeks on the stretch, which forms part of the ring road.

They have also pointed out that it is used by pupils from three schools, Waverley Middle and Grange Road and Farnham First Schools.

Waverley Middle head teacher Ian McCrae said there was a zebra crossing further down the road but youngsters often did not walk to it.

Mr McCrae said the Council had already tried to help by narrowing the road and installing coloured paving.

"But there are still problems and we were more than happy to help with the petition because we feel that something really needs to be done," he said.

Petition organiser Mohammed Azam of nearby St Margaret Road said the road was more dangerous since it had been narrowed.

He said: "People are parking along it and if you are crossing you can't see into the road."

Mr Asam added that many people wanted an extra pelican crossing but shopkeeper Mukhtar Ahmed said the main problem was the volume of traffic and some should be diverted.

Mr Ahmed, who has children aged four, nine and eight said he did not think another crossing was the answer.

"Every year there is an accident once a month and I've seen a child flung six feet in the air by being knocked down," he said.

"But 80 per cent of the children don't use the existing crossing and I think they should be educated to."

Executive Committee member for Transport and Planning, Councillor Latif Darr, said councillors would be happy to talk to the community about any problems and try to find a solution.

He said: "We are concerned to hear about this and would do anything possible."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.