POLICE and county council chiefs have teamed up in a campaign to drive down the number of people killed or injured in road accidents because they are not wearing seatbelts.

Bookmarks highlighting the dangers of not belting up are being distributed to every schoolchild across the West Mercia Constabulary area, which includes Wyre Forest.

In 2003, out of 96 people killed and 5,050 people injured in road collisions in the force area, one in 10 was not wearing a seatbelt.

The road safety team at Worcestershire County Council is supporting the initiative, as is Sir Jimmy Savile, who was associated with the "clunk click" campaign more than 30 years ago.

Sgt John Roberts, West Mercia's casualty reduction manager, said: "We are very concerned that, despite the legislation, people continue to travel without wearing their seatbelts.

"We know that people are continuing to flout the law, particularly when they travel in the back of a vehicle.

"We also know, from our work with local authority road safety teams across the force area, that many child safety seats are incorrectly fitted, offering little or no protection to babies and young people in the event of a crash."

Roger Woodward, Worcestershire County Council's road safety officer, said: "This is a very important campaign for all of us. By far the greatest number of child casualties are as a result of injuries in road collisions when they are passengers in vehicles."