A MAJOR £2,000 safety scheme to cut the number of road deaths of children has been launched in the county.

The 95 Alive Road Safety Partnership has given out 1,500 high visibility jackets to youngsters at 32 primary schools in the Ryedale area.

The project aims to make the youngsters easier to see for drivers as they walk to and from school in the dark.

The safety partnership, made up of local councils and emergency services, hope the project will cut the number of accidents.

Gail Snowden, community safety link officer for Ryedale District Council and the 95 Alive team, has handed out the jackets.

She said: "We did the same thing last year and it was really successful. We had schools bombarding us asking when the jackets were coming.

"We’ve given them to the primary schools as we think children under that age will be with their parents and older children might not wear them.

"We’re hoping for a reduction in road death numbers. We don’t have a huge problem but we are a rural area.

"We have children going home on the bus and some walking from the bus to home and some of the villages are not really well lit."

Pupils at Amotherby County Primary School, near to Malton, were amongst the first to be given the high visibility jackets.

A school spokesman said: "It’s a good thing for the pupils to have the jackets as they can put them on and be seen as they are bright.

"Amotherby is quite a busy little village with a lot of traffic so they are a good idea."

Mal Austwick, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service station manager, is also the chairman of the Ryedale Roads Safety Group.

He said: "This initiative was started to improve the safety of school children.

"I am pleased that we have been able to secure funding to undertake the initiative again this year.

"Children are more vulnerable in poor light conditions and with the dark mornings and nights about to start we want them to be safe whilst walking to and from school."