A campaign has been launched to reduce the number of cyclists killed or injured on the roads.

A city councillor is calling for cycle manufacturers to be forced to fit lights and bells to bikes before they are sold.

Peter Willows has won backing for his campaign from senior police officers, who will support it by issuing £35 fixed penalty tickets to cyclists caught riding at night without lights or a bell.

Mr Willows, a Hangleton councillor, launched his campaign after witnessing two incidents involving cyclists.

He said: "Both shot out in front of traffic with no lights on and it was a miracle that nobody was killed. Motorists had no chance of seeing them in the dark.

"I raised this at the last full meeting of the city council and was booed and jeered for daring to try to have it debated.

"But it is a very serious subject in a place like Brighton and Hove which claims to be cycle friendly.

"If manufacturers were forced by law to put lights and bells on bikes before they were sold it would dramatically reduce the number of accidents involving cyclists."

Chief Inspector Stuart Harrison, second in command of Hove and Shoreham police, said he gave the campaign his full support.

He said: "In practical terms, it costs £120,000 to investigate a fatal accident, all for the sake of a £15 set of lights and a bell or horn.

"We would much rather issue fines to people we catch without either, than have to knock on a parent's door to tell them their child has been killed on the roads."

National figures show that last year 20,612 cyclists were injured on Britain's roads and 127 were killed.

But that is believed to be only the tip of the iceberg as 60 to 90 per cent of cycle accidents go unreported each year.

Roger Vincent, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "If bells and lights were fitted by the manufacturers there would be no reason for people not to use them."