CHILDREN having to cross Vale roads to get to school could be safer under proposals to install two pelican crossings.

One of the roads earmarked for a crossing is Pershore Road at Hampton in Evesham - where schoolgirl, Stefanie Mace, now aged 15, was involved in a serious traffic accident while crossing it two years ago.

As part of Worcestershire County Council's Safer Routes to School scheme, staff and pupils at Badsey First School and St Andrew's First School, Hampton have been consulted about how safety could be improved.

Pelican crossings could be provided on Badsey Road, between Synehurst Crescent and Horsebridge Avenue and at Pershore Road, Hampton, to enhance the safety of children walking to school.

The consultations revealed "considerable dangers" to pupils crossing the Badsey Road from the Horsebridge estate and those crossing the Pershore Road at Hampton.

Works involving the installation of the two crossings, as well as moving a bus layby and replacing a bus shelter at Badsey, will cost an estimated £120,000.

Drawings of the proposed schemes have been on display at the schools and letters with questionnaires and plans will be distributed to residents within the areas concerned as part of the public consultation process.

The purpose of the Safer Routes to Schools initiative is to determine what deters pupils from walking, cycling and using public transport to get to school. The answers prompt engineers to devise solutions intended to reduce the number of car trips made to schools.

Stefanie Mace spent more than a month in hospital after she and a friend were involved in the collision on Evesham's Pershore Road.

Although her friend escaped with minor injuries, Stefanie, then a pupil of Evesham's St Egwin's Middle School but now at Prince Henry's High School, had to undergo emergency surgery as doctors removed part of her skull to allow her brain to expand.

She has recovered to the extent that she recently decided to carry out work experience with the medical team that saved her life.