YOUNGSTERS, even as young as five years, must surely realise the dangers of playing alongside the motorway.

But it seems that groups of children have started playing deadly games of dare in which they dodge traffic along the section of the M61 close to Kearsley and Farnworth.

Police are being called up to three times a day from anxious motorists reporting sightings of youngsters playing on hard shoulders. Patrols have even been called to pull two girls aged five and six to safety from the motorway's central reservation.

How can these children not have been warned about the perils of playing close to the roads and motorways?

But perhaps more worrying, why, at their young age, had they been allowed to wander out of the sight of parents or guardians?

You can not always expect children so young to fully understand the dangers they face, but surely the adults, meant to be looking after them must.