A NEW classroom campaign has been unveiled as council bosses try to step up their efforts to reduce the number of children killed in crashes.

At the centre of the new project is a new child pedestrian co-ordinator, who will go to schools in Blackburn and Darwen in a bid to make sure youngsters know their green cross code.

Janet Campbell's position has been made possible, thanks to a £90,000 grant from the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, aimed at reducing the number of child pedestrian accidents on the borough's roads.

Four schools have so far been visited by Janet, who will look at the environment and road systems around individual schools before pointing out dangers to youngsters.

She will go on to implement child pedestrian safety training programmes across Blackburn with Darwen's schools.

Practical skills such as keeping away from the kerb, not walking out between parked cars and always looking both ways, will also be taught to the youngsters near to real roads, rather than in the classroom. The pilot scheme should help to achieve the Government's target of a 50 per cent reduction in the numbers of children killed or seriously injured by 2010.

Blackburn with Darwen Council also has an added incentive of meeting separate targets set specifically for them by the Government as part of its public service agreement.

The PSA has set down 13 targets which the council must meet by 2004 if its wants to receive what has been described as a £3million golden carrot from the Government.

The targets for road safety include:

75 per cent reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured in road accidents, from an annual 36 children per year to nine;

25 per cent reduction in the number of people of all ages killed or seriously injured per year, down from 230 a year to 138.