Cardboard cops patrol Vilnius

Three hundred life-size cut-outs featuring the traffic police's distinctive turquoise green uniform were brought out for the return to school.

Road risk
More than 700 Lithuanians, or 20 per 100,000 residents, die on the roads each year
In the European Union, the average death rate in less than 10 in every 100,000

The authorities hope the dummy cops will trick drivers into killing their speed in this ex-Soviet Baltic republic, which has one of Europe's highest death tolls on the roads.

A spokeswoman for the city councils said they appear to have already had a positive effect and they will remain in use for several months.

A similar scheme in Denmark in the 1980s ran into trouble as cut-outs of motorcycle police were stolen - apparently by souvenir hunters.

But the traffic cops of Vilnius have been entrusted to the 90 schools they serve and the pupils are responsible for taking them inside after school hours.

The Lithuanian Government can only be delighted with the scheme: the traffic police force is short of staff and the dummies were paid for by a local box manufacturer.