It resembled a weird sort of video game. The footage, shot from the dashboard of a car, showed dozens of schoolchildren spilling out onto the road, giddy at being released from education for another day.

Cars stopped, horns honked, bikes swerved. It was quite a chaotic scene at Kings Langley School for at least one driver, who was on his way to pick up his own kids from primary school.

Of course, for him and many others, this isn’t a video game.

We don’t want to sound like a wet blanket. When kids come out of school, their first thought is unlikely to be ‘I can’t wait to cross the road safely and begin my journey home’.

For many it’s about catching up with your pals, letting off steam after several hours of concentration or dashing off to do something you consider to be far more interesting.

At the same time, it is important to be aware of your surroundings, particularly where cars are concerned.

So what to do? It seems a bit mean to bombard children with rules relating to road safety strictly more than is necessary. And who’s to say they would even listen?

Yet head teacher Gary Lewis says he is “not convinced” that a controlled traffic crossing would have any affect, given that more than one thousand pupils are let loose at once.

The solution, it seems, save for banning all cars at opening and closing time, is unclear. For now it is about caution on both sides but, as is natural, most of this will have to come from the adults.