A CAMPAIGN to reduce road accidents and make children safer has reached a milestone.

The number of pupils in Hartlepool who have received training on how to cross the road safely has topped 4,000.

Hartlepool Borough Council's road safety unit introduced pedestrian training in 12 schools more than four years ago. Since then, the initiative has been expanded to cover every year three child in the town.

The 4,000 mark was reached when the unit's team of instructors began training youngsters at Kingsley Primary School on Tuesday.

Road safety officer Paul Watson said: "The scheme is delivered by experienced road safety trainers over three sessions, and covers issues such as the Green Cross Code, finding safe places to cross, identifying unsafe places to cross and how to cross at an unsafe point if there is no alternative."

The training is part of a package of measures aimed at primary school children, which also includes general road safety education, seatbelt-wearing campaigns and cycle training.

Statistics appear to show that the measures are contributing to a reduction in the number of road accidents involving children, with the annual average falling from 47 in 1998/99 to 28 in 2004/05.