A survey by road safety charity Brake shows many people believe more needs be done to improve safety in their neighbourhood for people making journeys on foot or by bike.

The survey, conducted as part of Brake’s annual Giant Walk road safety initiative, revealed that 65 percent of respondents think the route between their home and school needs to be made safer for children to walk or cycle. Two-thirds of people surveyed (67 percent) think walking and cycling paths in their area need new road crossings so that travelling by bike and foot is safer and easier.

The results also showed that 38% of people have felt scared by traffic when walking or cycling in their neighbourhood and 72 percent of people believe more children would walk or cycle to school should improvements to walking and cycling routes be introduced.

Brake is calling for new road safety measures to be implemented to ensure vulnerable road users are adequately protected. These include introducing dedicated cycle lanes, safer crossings and lowering speed limits in urban areas.

Latest figures from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents show more than 21,000 cyclists were involved in road accidents in 2014, with 75 percent of fatal or serious cyclist accidents occurring in urban areas.

Tom Jones, head of policy at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “While disappointing that such a high proportion of people are concerned about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in their area, with some admitting they are personally scared when walking or cycling, the results of this survey are hardly surprising.

“UK roads are not built for cyclists or pedestrians and much more needs to be done in order to secure the safety of these road users.

“The government has sought views on its approach to walking and cycling but it is all long term and vague. We responded to the Department for Transport’s Draft cycling and walking investment strategy consultation, but substantial investment and genuine commitment to improving road infrastructure in the UK is desperately needed from central government to encourage local authorities to make the moves necessary to both improve the confidence of vulnerable road users, and crucially to also reduce the number of serious injuries and deaths on our roads.”