SAFETY campaigners are trying to reduce the number of elderly women killed on the roads - by handing out luminous shopping bags.

In the past 12 months, more than 100 pensioners in the North-East were the victim of road accidents because they simply weren't seen in the dark.

Road safety officials set about finding a way of making pensioners more visible to drivers and came up with SeeMe bags.

The strong nylon carriers have a reflective strip across them, which pick up car lights at night.

Age Concern yesterday began distributing 5,000 of the shopping bags to older people in County Durham. Pensioners from Pelton Fell community centre, near Chester-le-Street, gathered to test the bags.

Retired school assistant Audrey Curry, 68, said: "These shopping bags are a very good idea when the nights draw in. You do feel vulnerable walking home when it gets dark so early, but we are all determined to get out and not to stay at home all day."

Veronica Lewis, chief officer for Age Concern County Durham, said: "Last year alone, more than 100 older people were involved in road accidents in the North-East in which they were either killed or seriously injured.

"The bags are being distributed to older people who enjoy walking and shopping. They are among the most vulnerable section of society after dark."

The bags are the brainchild of LARSOA, the Local Authority Road Safety Officers' Association.

Alan Kennedy, chairman of LARSOA and Durham County Council's road safety manager, said: "They are light, easy to fold up into a pocket when not in use and are a simple, but effective way of making yourself more visible to traffic."