A successful cycle safety scheme will run across Hull for a fourth winter, but with a new focus on supporting young people who cycle to and from school to stay safe and stay seen during the darker nights.
Over the past three years, Hull City Council’s Bike Lights for Dark Nights initiative has seen the local authority engage with hundreds of people cycling at locations across the city, as well as through targeted work with some of the city’s biggest employers and through collaboration with the voluntary sector.
To date, the initiative has mainly involved the delivery of ‘pop-up’ public events on key commuter routes and junctions in the city where people cycling have been observed riding in poor visibility.
In the UK, it is a legal requirement to cycle with lights between sunset and sunrise.
In addition to providing roadside advice to poorly illuminated cyclists and reminding them of the risks of riding without lights, the initiative has also seen free bike lights and hi-vis rucksack covers handed out, with the aim of reducing collisions on the city’s roads.
Over the past three winters, almost 1,200 sets of bike lights and around 900 hi-vis ruck sack covers have been distributed.
However, this year, the council, supported by Safer Roads Humber, will be running the initiative in Hull’s primary schools.
The decision to focus on schools follows feedback from schools, local communities and parents and is also seen as an opportunity to further improve road safety for young people by aligning the initiative with the council’s Bikeability programme for Year 6 students, which was recognised as being the best in England this summer.
It means that, in addition to receiving cycle training delivered by the council’s contractors, QTS and First Step Cycle, around 800 students will receive a free set of bike lights and a hi-vis rucksack cover.
Councillor Mark Ieronimo, cabinet portfolio holder for transport and infrastructure at Hull City Council, said: “Bike Lights for Dark Nights has proven to be an incredibly popular and positive initiative, and we are delighted that, this year, we can focus on encouraging and nurturing good road safety habits in our young people.
“Our Bikeability training programme has been recognised nationally as one of the best, so it seemed like a natural progression to align this with our bike lights message for those children taking part in schools between November 2025 and January 2026.
“We’d like to take the opportunity to thank our schools, our cycle training providers and our partners, Safer Roads Humber and the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside, for their ongoing support in trying to make our city’s roads a safe place for everyone.”
This year’s activity has been part-funded by the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside, who also supported last year’s campaign.
Jonathan Evison, Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “Following the success of the initiative last year, I am pleased to be supporting Bike Lights for Dark Nights in 2025 in our Hull schools. It is really encouraging to see the focus this year being on young people and educating them on the importance of road safety.”
