HUNDREDS of children from the region have voiced their fears about roads, in a survey designed to coincide with Road Safety Week.

Road safety charity Brake organised the research with the help of government departments, including the Department for Transport and other organisations.

The survey asked 1,500 children, aged between seven and 14, from inner cities schools in the UK about their feelings about traffic and roads.

Those questioned included 76 primary school pupils from Tyne and Wear.

The survey revealed 40 per cent of children are scared by roads when on foot, half feel they need a safer place to cross outside their school, and 50 per cent describe the roads outside their schools as dangerous.

The report found 59 per cent of children knew someone who had been killed or hurt in a crash, 38 per cent said they had nearly been hit and ten per cent said they had been hit by a vehicle while on foot.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said they wanted more speed cameras.

The survey was released yesterday, to highlight concerns at the start of this year's Road Safety Week.