Nine Bradford suburbs are among West Yorkshire's worst accident blackspots putting children's lives at risk.

The areas were uncovered by a special Child Safety Audit carried out by Bradford Council and the West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership as part of a Government drive to try to cut the number of deaths and injuries involving the under-15s.

Bowling, Bradford Moor, Heaton, Keighley South, Little Horton, Toller, Tong, Undercliffe and the University area have all been identified as priority areas needing more road safety initiatives.

The audit for 2000-2002 showed Bradford Moor, Toller, Heaton and Keighley South as the worst affected areas with a total of 298 out of 1,453 road accident victims being children.

The idea of the audit is that the Council can use it to prioritise road safety schemes in areas that need them the most. Philip Gwynn, of the Casualty Reduction Scheme, said work had started to examine each of the areas individually to see what the best solutions would be - from widening footpaths to creating new pedestrian refuges or even traffic-free streets.

Outline plans will then be drawn up and put on display in the affected areas, asking people for their own views and ideas.

Mr Gwynn said those ideas would then be turned into a plan that would be costed out and presented to the Government.

He said: "It's a Government-driven initiative and therefore it is committed to making the funds available to do the work.

"We don't know how much money or when it will be available but we know they are keen so we are working as quickly as we can to get the plans to them."