EXPERTS have been drafted in to tackle the school-run headache after revealing more and more Lancashire primary children are walking to class.

Education chiefs at Lancashire County Council have spent £180,000 on five new school travel advisors who will tackle peak-time traffic chaos.

They will urge parents to take a long look at why they drive to school after revealing nine out of 20 cars on the roads at rush hour are driven by parents with children.

In 2003, 52 per cent of Lancashire's primary children were driven to their drop off with only 44 per cent of children walking - ten per cent less than the national average.

Now council bosses want to find out why parents are put off taking their children on foot or bike and believe it could be as simple as a bad junction or lack of a pedestrian crossing.

At Salesbury Primary School, in Blackburn, school times are already staggered and a make-shift roundabout system has been adopted, but the roads are still congested. Headteacher Peter Corbett said: "Even a dozen fewer cars in the morning and evening would help and any new initiative is warmly welcomed.

"Walking buses are good but tend to die off. Car sharing would really help."

One trouble hot spot is Byron Street in Burnley where there are three schools in close proximity, one of which is Ivy Bank Business and Enterprise College in Burnley, where cycle racks are due to be installed and crossing facilities improved.

County councillor Jean Yates, cabinet member for Highways and Transportation, said parents could have misconceptions over the dangers of walking to school. She said: "Across Lancashire in 2002 there were 90 accidents involving youngsters heading to and from school on foot, but 45 were injured in cars. Parents fear for child safety, but they make the problem worse by driving their children to and from school.

"Many parents say they would prefer their children to make their own way to school, so our new staff will be looking at the obstacles. It may be that there is a particular road junction that is a problem or that the bus routes aren't convenient. Each travel adviser will work with schools and parents to find out what the obstacles are.

"In the past, we have only been able to help the 200 or so schools in East Lancashire that have approached us. Now we can look at many more - starting with the ones with the worst problems.

"The current situation benefits no one, least of all parents who are rushed off their feet."

The team of advisors will work with teachers to draw up School Travel Plans ranging from cycle racks, safer footpaths and cyclepaths, and even the re-routing of buses. Walking buses, in which parents and staff accompany pupils through the streets, are another option.

But Lancashire social psychologist Dr Richard Stevens said: "Media coverage of one or two incidents of abduction and major charity campaigns of Stranger Danger have created an unrealistic fear over abductions which does not encourage parents to let their children go to school alone."

Of Lancashire's secondary students, 33 per cent walk compared to 38 per cent taking the bus and 26 per cent arriving by car.