All children starting school this September will receive high-visibility vests, the Road Safety Authority has announced.
This comes as part of its annual Back to School campaign.
2017 is the seventh year of the scheme, which has seen 800,000 children receive the vests.
“Many of those children will be walking to school with their parents for the first time and some may be going on their bicycles,” RSA chief Executive Moyagh Murdock told RTÉ1’s Morning Ireland.
“We’re really trying to get the message out to to parents, teachers and road users to watch out for and be aware of these new road users.”
She noted that the figures for road deaths of cyclists had doubled in the past year.
“Cycling has got much more popular and we are delighted to see that. It’s a healthy activity. We need to make sure people feel safe and we have a number of measures there. We want to do as much as possible for cyclists.”
