A new crossing will be installed on a busy road next to a school amid claims from a councillor that it is down to “pure luck” that there has not been a fatal accident.

Pupils at the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe have been crossing Hamilton Road – a busy commuter route – to get to the other side for their PE and games lessons on the school playing fields, but there is no formal crossing there and there have been a number of “near miss” accidents.

In a bid to improve safety, an “uncontrolled” pedestrian crossing is set to be installed, costing £24,851 – but one councillor was critical of the move, arguing that pupils could walk yards down the road and use the light controlled crossing instead.

Cllr Tony Green said the uncontrolled crossing – which will feature dropped kerbs, an anti-skid surface, hazard warning signs and new yellow zigzag markings to stop parents dropping off and picking up students – could actually result in more crashes.

He said: “If there is no requirement for motorists to actually stop at this crossing, what good will it do? Isn’t there a risk it could increase accidents if pedestrians think they can cross on it but motorists know they don’t have to stop for it?

“What makes you think drivers will treat it as a crossing? I use Hamilton Road a lot and because of the traffic lights and because of the parents dropping off, the last thing people want to do is stop if they don’t have to. I don’t think people will stop. If a pupil gets knocked down, what is the legal position here?”

Korinne Leney, High Wycombe area manager at Bucks County Council, said that although the crossing is uncontrolled, drivers do tend to treat it like an official crossing and stop for pupils.

She said: “If you want to have a zebra crossing there, it is very, very expensive because you have to make a legal change. It would be five or six times more expensive than what is proposed.

“There are lots of things that will indicate to a driver that this is a crossing – there will be signage, road markings. The hope is that most drivers will treat it as a zebra crossing.

“Evidence across the county says that drivers do treat it as a crossing and do stop. At the moment there is nothing there, so I don’t think it will make it any less safe.”

Cllr Arif Hussain, who put forward the idea for a crossing, added: “The playing fields and the car park are on the other side of the road, and although there are traffic lights 50 yards down the road, the children will stand there and just run across.

“The school took their initiative to get the feasibility study done. It is for the safety of the children and there have been a number of near-misses. I think it is mostly down to luck that there hasn’t been a fatal accident. If we can safeguard children, we should.”