Safety conscious pupils have launched a campaign to stop cars racing past their village primary school.

The youngsters have been interviewing villagers to find out what traffic calming measures they would like to tackle traffic going past Hawksworth Church of England Primary School near Guiseley.

The pupils are calling on Leeds City Council to introduce measures to slow down traffic before there is a serious accident.

The youngsters have even compiled their own dossier on the subject after sending out questionnaires and conducting a series of interviews with villagers and parents as part of a geography project.

Now their findings are being passed on to Leeds City Council and Aireborough MP Paul Truswell.

Their teacher, Caroline Garnett, said the research had been carried out by pupils aged eight to 11 amid growing concern in the village about the volume and speed of traffic. Pupils counted several hundred vehicles passing the school in the space of just a few hours and their survey revealed that most were travelling above the 30mph speed limit - some in excess of 45 mph.

The results of the questionnaire and interviews threw up a host of suggestions, ranging from speed bumps, speed cameras and a zebra crossing to lowering the speed limit and building a Hawksworth bypass

Other proposals included more car parking facilities near the school, footpath widening and installing traffic lights.

Mrs Garnett said the most popular measures were speed cameras, widening the footpath on Main Street, and a bypass.

She said: "The children have done a brilliant job and hopefully we can get something done before there is a serious accident in the village. Speed cameras and a 20mph speed limit would be ideal.''

Milton Booth, chairman of Hawksworth Residents Association, said: "They've done a first class job, come up with some well thought out conclusions and deserve to have their voices heard.

"Traffic is a growing menace in Hawksworth and there is an accident waiting to happen. Hopefully their work will result in something being done to benefit the whole village.

"My own preferred option would be to close the road and have a bypass - but that's probably only a pipe dream - followed by speed cameras.''