Simple pictograms sprayed onto cycle paths are effective at persuading cyclists to put on their lights, road users organisation ANWB said on Friday.

The pictograms, sprayed in bright yellow on cycle paths, show a hand on a dynamo and a hand on a lamp, followed by the instruction ‘switch on your lights’.

The project is now being rolled out nationwide after an experiment in Nijmegen led to a clear increase in people using their bike lights.

On the four nights before the pictograms were painted on two city bike paths, four in 10 cyclists using the paths had their lights on. But four days after the reminders appeared, almost six in 10 had switched on their lamps, the ANWB said.

‘Many youngsters don’t think about it, or have a broken bulb or an empty battery,’ spokesman Markus van Tol told broadcaster RTL. ‘But the pictograms seem to be a sort of “oh yes moment”.’

According to traffic safety body SWOV, one in five serious bike accidents take place at night and last year police handed out 34,000 fines to cyclists whose lamps were not up to scratch.

The first pictograms are now being sprayed onto bike paths in The Hague. Rotterdam and Utrecht are next on the list after the autumn holidays.