Be Safe, Be Seen 2004

As the clocks go back on Sunday 31 October, the DfT's THINK! campaign is launching 'Be Safe Be Seen' to encourage children to make sure they are clearly visible when using the roads, especially at night and in conditions with limited visibility.

In 2003, 171 children were killed on roads and 3,929 were seriously injured - and 694 child pedestrians and 93 child cyclists were killed or seriously injured in the October to December period of 2002 alone.

TV presenter Gail Porter said: "I was shocked to hear that over 170 children were killed on Britain's roads last year - that's a tragedy every two days on average. As a mother, I want to support the THINK! campaign to remind parents about the importance of road safety, be it walking, cycling or travelling in the car. My child's safety is my number one priority and I know other parents realise we need to constantly remind our kids about the dangers on the roads."

The campaign advises parents to help keep their children safe by:

• Making sure that children can be easily seen, especially at night, on dark days and in bad weather.
• Explaining to youngsters why they should always wear something bright like fluorescent clothes, especially in dull or misty weather.
• Telling them that by night, reflective material is best and shows up in car headlights - and that fluorescent clothing doesn't work after dark.
• Reminding them that it is an offence to cycle at night without a white front light, a red back light and a red reflector at the back.

For further information go the members section of this site. Then click on DfT Communications and go to 'Be Safe Be Seen'. The members section is password protected. To obtain the password contact Brian Hogarth, LARSOA secretary, bhogarth@tiscali.co.uk