I SEE that the main objection of the vice-chairperson of the Cambridge Street Residents' Association concerning the proposed new link road between Water End and Holgate Road is that she is "worried about the safety of young children playing in the street" (October 9).

She, along with many others, seems to be under a popular misconception that public highways have become designated play areas for the benefit of their children. That any traffic which might wish to use the road is of a secondary consideration.

As a young child both my school and my parents told me that roads were dangerous places to be avoided if I didn't want to be run over.

Some of today's children have little fear of the road and treat it with contempt, as often their parents have done little to educate them otherwise.

Paul Acton,

Jennifer Grove,

York.

Updated: 10:07 Monday, October 14, 2002