A NEW scheme designed to raise the driving standards of parents and teachers who do the school run is to be piloted by the Institute of Advanced Motorists. One in five children injured on the road is hurt during the hours of the school run, which typically sees rush hour traffic swelling by nearly 20 per cent. Although more than a million children a day are driven to school in private cars, only a tiny fraction of the parents at the wheel have ever done anything to improve their driving skills.

Instead they rely on their general driving experience - complete with bad habits - and good luck to avoid causing a crash.

Now IAM volunteers are working with head teachers in the Midlands on a new course called Kidsafe, which puts the emphasis on responsible parking, seat belt use, safe following distances and speed control.

The work follows initial development of a pilot at Bournebrook Primary School in Fillongley, near Coventry. Ten teachers and parents agreed to attend short "assessment drives" with members of the IAM Coventry Group, who then gave them a 25 minute demonstration drive.