Almost 12,000 children across York will be given special reflective tags as part of a new City of York Council road safety campaign.

The council's Road Safety team wants to ensure that every nursery and primary school pupil in the city receives a tag to make them more visible to car traffic as the winter nights draw in.

The campaign aims to encourage children to be more visible on the journey home from school and is aimed at four to 11 year olds and their parents.

Parents wanting to make sure their children are safe on the roads during the darker months should remember to:

- Ensure that your child can be easily seen, especially at night, on dark days and in bad weather
- Explain to your child why they should always wear something bright
- Bright or fluorescent clothes show up best in the daytime, especially in dull or misty weather
- By night, reflective material is best and shows up in car headlights - remember that fluorescent clothing is not visible after dark
- Children who cycle to school can also take extra care and make sure that their bike has a white front light, a red back light and a red reflector at the back.

Tom Foxton, from the council's Road Safety team, said: "Children need to be extra careful on the roads in the winter months. And at the same time, drivers also need to take extra care and look out for pedestrians, particaulalry young children. We want to encourage all children to wear something bright and take extra care when out and about near roads and we hope that the reflective tags will provide an easy and fun way of staying safe."