SPEEDING cars trying to avoid traffic lights in Tilehurst are putting young children’s lives at risk.

That is according to neighbours in Recreation Road who have submitted a 100-signature-strong petition to the borough council’s traffic management sub-committee urging to make their street safer.

Speaking at the meeting on Thursday, Daniel Van Der Kemp, who has lived in Recreation Road for six years, said motorists cut down his street to avoid the traffic lights at junction of Norcot Road and School Road.

The father-of-two added: “The road has Blagrave Nursery and also a park for young children. Cars speed up and down this road constantly and use the road as a rat run. It’s quite tight and narrow down there and the cars are tearing it down there. It’s a serious hazard and a danger to young children. I have a two-year-old and five-year-old and it’s just not safe, to be honest.” He urged the sub-committee to investigate the road and suggested putting in speed bumps or closing the road at the junction with Blundells Road so only residents will have a reason to cut through. He said: “A possible solution would be speed humps. This would not only stop the speeding but probably be a deterrent for people to cut through. You would have no reason to cut through unless you were going home.

“I put it to you to review it and do something about it.”

Tilehurst councillor Ricky Duveen pledged his support to the petition and the sub-committee approved plans to send out officers to look at the street and come back with a report on what can be done.

Cllr Duveen said: “This has been a festering problem for a number of years.

“Clearly it has been getting worse. I think it’s time to do something about it.”