A driver has pleaded for parents to stop dashing into a busy road outside a primary school during the school run.

Ronit Loewenstern says she has come within millimetres of hitting parents with children outside Summerswood Primary School on Furzehill Road after they choose to nip into traffic rather than use a crossing a little further up the road.

Expressing her concern on social media, Ms Loewenstern has urged the school to take action and believes there is a simple solution.

She said: “Extending the barrier will stop parents being able to cross so easily. But also putting barriers on the opposite side to the school will really deter them and force them to walk up to the traffic lights.

“One morning I very nearly knocked over a man carrying a toddler when he just stepped out in front of my car and I had to hit the brakes. Fortunately I was driving very slowly.”

Summerswood head teacher Sarah Kneller acknowledges there is an issue and is fully supportive of finding a solution.

She said: “We know there is a problem and we have tried to find ways to fix it.

“Our pupils have participated in National Road Safety Week and in July we ran our own road safety course for our children.”

Ms Kneller says the school wrote to Cllr Alan Plancey in August where pupils from each year group suggested ways to improve safety, including displaying “slow signs” and exploring the possibility of widening pavements which currently can only fit one buggy.

However, although Cllr Plancey has helped in the past with zigzag lines and having hedges trimmed to improve road safety, the school is yet to receive a response about this matter.

Ms Kneller has already written to parents on a number of occasions warning them of the dangers of crossing into a live road.

The head teacher says that the school are exploring the possibility of shutting the Furzehill Road entrance, which is the least used, to pedestrians and this will be discussed at a school parliament meeting.

Cllr Pat Strack, a governor at the school, says every head teacher at the school has faced this problem.

“I have to urge parents to leave five minutes earlier and use the crossing that already exists as it is the only safe place to cross.”

The Borehamwood Times have requested comment from Hertfordshire County Council and Cllr Alan Plancey.