Walking with a 2 year old in the street

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DD is adamant she wants to walk in the street and gets very upset when put into pushchair (in fact, sometimes you basically have to force her, so I end up not going out rather than doing that).

Anyway, it was going OK with my pushing the pushchair with DS in it, and DD holding my hand or "pushing" the pushchair. BUT twice now, she has refused to hold my hand, and has run towards the road - once getting into the road itself with a large 4x4 travelling at speed towards her). Both times I have resorted to desperate measures to grab her in time, and we've ended up in a heap on the pavement, her in tears and me very shaken.

Should I be insisting she's back in the double buggy? Is she too young at 26 months to be walking on the pavement? DH wants her to develop her independence and I am a bit over protective, so I've been trying - but as she gets more confidence, the worse the problem gets.

grumpala I think you're right about the zero tolerance thing, and that you need to be consistent about it on every road. Tbh I think this is where it went wrong for us, DH started taking DD to nursery when I was pg & let her walk from the carpark into the nursery without holding hands because "there were hardly any cars around" also I suspect the ILs let her walk along the roads in their village "because it's quiet".

Right, I'm getting her to choose a new rucksack online tomorrow, and laying the law down with everyone next week!

rucksack shopping here too, sounds a easier backup for running away when insisting hands are held

thankyou for the feedback too.