THE dangerous reality faced by young children cycling to school in Wirral has been revealed in an unsettling new video.

Taken by Brackenwood Infant School pupil William Lamb, it shows a series of 'dashcam-style' clips of cars passing "dangerously" close, carrying out fast overtakes and forcing him onto the pavement.

In the video, keen Wirral cyclist William, seven, is heard calling cars "pathetic" and commenting on how fast they are driving around residential roads close to his Bebington school.

He, together with dad Edward, who last week released a similar video of his commute to work including actually getting hit by a car, are campaigning to make the streets around Brackenwood safer.

Edward said: "Kids should be able to ride/walk to school in safety. Our journey is only about 600-700m but it's fraught with danger for kids, many of whom are on their own.

"In the last eight or nine months I've seen all sorts – people driving on the pavement to pass, William has had a mum open her car door on him while he's been riding, but I didn't get that on camera, sadly.

"I've had to bang on a couple of windows to stop drivers from squashing us and last week I almost got in a fight with a parent for asking him not to park on the yellow zigzags."

The family's campaign has seen them test the air quality near Brackenwood in recent weeks with other children, and they hope that eventually they'll be able to ban cars from driving on roads close to the school.

Edward has set up a not-for-profit organisation called Rethink Now, which aims to work on the problem locally.

It is focused on traffic around schools – "something almost everyone agrees is out of control".

According to the dad-of-two, they have made a "decent amount of progress so far", but more support is needed.

He added: "William is crazy about riding his bike. As soon as he was tall enough to pedal, he was off.

"He's got a decent bike and can move at quite a pace, so riding on the pavement on the way to school isn't practical so, rather than walk and give up, I thought I'd ride on the road with him.

"School traffic is a nightmare.

"The tight little residential roads that we pass through come alive with cars every morning. The video gives an idea of what we have to put up with."

Edward has a vision of William appearing on national TV, speaking about his experience of riding the short distance to Brackenwood each morning.

He's also running a campaign for William to be the 'Junior Bicycle Mayor' for Liverpool City Region.

Edward added: "Everyone knows we need more people on bikes for health, congestion, emissions, air quality but no one is stepping up to make the changes – not on Merseyside at least.

"William can be the face of that change."

Last week, Edward released footage taken on his commute work between Bebington and Woodside in Birkenhead – in a bid to raise awareness of dangers faced by those on a bike.

He added that he is "working hard" to make our roads safer for all, and wants to reduce our dependency on cars to help reduce their impact on the environment.

Speaking on behalf of Wirral Council and the school, a local authority spokesman said: "Edward is an active and valued member of our transport steering group and his involvement in that group – the ideas and experience he shares – is already helping shape local policy and the progression of new ideas across a range of related issues, including road safety and air quality around schools and elsewhere."

The dangerous reality faced by young children cycling to school on Merseyside has been revealed in an unsettling new video.

Taken by Brackenwood Infant School pupil William Lamb, it shows a series of ‘dashcam-style’ clips of cars passing “dangerously” close, carrying out fast overtakes, and forcing him onto the pavement.

In the video, keen Wirral cyclist William, seven, is heard calling cars “pathetic”, and commenting on how fast they are driving around residential roads close to his Bebington school.

He, together with dad Edward, who last week released a similar video of his commute to work including actually getting hit by a car, are campaigning to make the streets around Brackenwood safer.

Edward said: “Kids should be able to ride/walk to school in safety. Our journey is only about 600-700m but it’s fraught with danger for kids, many of whom are on their own.

“In the last eight or nine months I’ve seen all sorts – people driving on the pavement to pass, William has had a mum open her car door on him while he’s been riding, but I didn’t get that on camera, sadly.

“I’ve had to bang on a couple of windows to stop drivers from squashing us and last week I almost got in a fight with a parent for asking him not to park on the yellow zigzags.”

The family’s campaign has seen them test the air quality near Brackenwood in recent weeks with other children, and they hope that eventually they’ll be able to ban cars from driving on roads close to the school.

Edward has set up a not-for-profit organisation called Rethink Now, which aims to work on the problem locally. It’s focused on traffic around schools – “something almost everyone agrees is out of control”.

According to the dad-of-two, they have made a “decent amount of progress so far”, but that more support is needed.

He added: “William is crazy about riding his bike. As soon as he was tall enough to pedal, he was off. He’s got a decent bike and can move at quite a pace, so riding on the pavement on the way to school isn’t practical so, rather than walk and give up I thought I’d ride on the road with him.

"School traffic is a nightmare. The tight little residential roads that we pass through come alive with cars every morning.

"The video gives an idea of what we have to put up with."

Edward has a vision of William appearing on national TV, speaking about his experience of riding the short distance to Brackenwood each morning. He’s also running a campaign for William to be the ‘Junior Bicycle Mayor’ for Liverpool City Region.

Edward added: “Everyone knows we need more people on bikes for health, congestion, emissions, air quality but no one is stepping up to make the changes – not on Merseyside at least.

"William can be the face of that change."

Last week, Edward released footage taken on his commute work between Bebington and Woodside in Birkenhead – in a bid to raise awareness of dangers faced by those on a bike.

He added that he is “working hard” to make our roads safer for all, and wants to reduce our dependency on cars to help reduce their impact on the environment.

A Wirral Council spokesman said: “Edward is an active and valued member of our transport steering group and his involvement in that group – the ideas and experience he shares – is already helping shape local policy and the progression of new ideas across a range of related issues, including road safety and air quality around schools and elsewhere.”