[WillowTheWhisp]

I can relate to what Mummiboo is saying because my daughter was knocked down after looking both ways and crossing when there was no oncoming car in sight. It's difficult to explain the location but there's a long bend in the road and the car that hit her was somewhere out of sight round that bend. As she crossed the road a car pulled out of the school driveway and obscured her view until she had passed behind it, at which point she was hit by a car which came round the bend and which must have been perilously close to the car coming out of the school drive.

I've looked at the location and timed cars as they come into view round that bend and I can walk at quite a reasonable pace and cover far more ground than the width of the road before the car gets near enough to hit me and I've done that with cars and vans and all sorts. None of them would have hit me so I conclude that the car which hit my daughter must have been going faster than any of those.

Unfortunately the police didn't do any checks or measurements at the time but the council did put those pathetic half bumps in the road to slow traffic down which I don't really think solves it. What we had asked for was a zebra crossing outside the school drive as it's a very busy road and hundreds of children cross there morning and afternoon. Will they wait until a child is killed? My daughter was lucky. She survived. There have been several others knocked down but none as seriously injured - yet. My daughter does have road sense and was using it. She crossed when the road was clear.

I also agree about cars which don't use their indicators. There seem to be some drivers of the opinion that only other drivers need to see indication of here they are going, it doesn't seem to matter to them about pedestrians and yet it's as much use to a pedestrian to know if a car is coming round the bend at them.

I don't think we have "The Green Cross Code" as such any more because it was deemed too rigid and lulled children into a belief that once they'd looked and it was clear then it was going to stay clear. We have those funny little hedgehogs now which sing a song as they trot along and talk about avoiding busy areas as well as how to cross roads safely. I still agree that it is parents' responsibility to teach things like this to their children though.