THE number of people not wearing seatbelts has reached ‘epidemic proportions’, according to a police sergeant.

Mick Young told of his and his officers’ experiences as he backed the Lancashire Telegraph’s Love Your Kids? Belt Them In! campaign.

Sgt Young, from the Eastern Division’s road policing unit, said his staff both issued fixed penalty notices and spoke to motorists whose children were not belted in on a daily basis.

In June the Home Office increased the penalties from £30 to £60 in a bid to deter people further.

The law states that a child under three must be sat in a correct car seat, a child aged three up to the age of 12 or under 135cms tall must have booster seat.

The driver faces prosecution if this is not adhered to. Youngsters aged 14 upwards face fines and prosecution themselves if the do not belt up.

Sgt Young said: “This is a very serious offence and is one reason why the Home office has increased the penalty for commiting this offence.

“Seatbelts saves lives, officers are fining motorists on a daily basis for not wearing seatbelts.

“It is at epidemic proportions. We find it is a range of people in the community who are not wearing seatbelts.

“It is older people who never used to wear them and young people who should know better. There is such a blase attitude to seatbelts but it puts peoples lives at risk.

“We use a common sense approach with motorist. In some circumstances it is better to offer advice so parents can use £60 towards a car seat rather than a fixed penalty notice.”

Our campaign has been launched in partnership with the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety and Blackburn with Darwen’s Casualty Reduction Team.

We were spurred into action after a major survey of local children showed more than half in the top year of primary school don’t wear seatbelts, increasing to three quarters of GCSE pupils.

Love Your Kids? Belt Them In! will educate pupils across East Lancashire through schools, promote the law surrounding seatbelts, and help people understand how to choose – and fit – child car and booster seats correctly.

With our partners, we will run educational roadshows and will also go also into schools and community centres to get the belt-up message across.

The police will also run special crack downs to catch those flouting the law.