RECKLESS motorists who fail to ensure their children wear seatbelts are being targeted by police.

Officers are particularly clamping down on the Audley, Highfield and Shadsworth areas of Blackburn, which have been identified as particular hot spots.

With children returning to school police are focusing on parents who fail to buckle up by increasing patrols to coincide with the new term.

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PC Anthony Blezard, of Blackburn police, said: “We’re taking a zero tolerance approach to this. We want people to know that we’re clamping down on it.

“People driving around without seatbelts on has been an ongoing issue that has been frequently mentioned by the public.

“To coincide with going back to school we’re really clamping down on it over the next couple of weeks. We want people to know that we’re taking it seriously.”

Over the past few days officers have issued 15 tickets to drivers caught without their seatbelts on in the town.

One motorist also had his car seized for having an invalid licence.

To keep drivers guessing, officers have been patrolling different areas at different times in their cars.

PC Matt Shorrock, of Blackburn police, said the most shocking incident he had issued a ticket for so far was to a woman driving around Audley with three of her children not wearing seatbelts and a fourth crouched in a footwell.

Tickets were also issued to a driver in the Whitebirk area of Blackburn who had three children in the back without seatbelts and one in the Audley Range area, whose two children were climbing up the back of a seat having not been buckled up.

PC Shorrock said: “The main issue we have got is children in the back seats without seatbelts on. You see them climbing around. It’s not an excuse if children take their seatbelt off. At the end of the day it is the adult who is responsible.

“We will always pull over an adult if we see them driving around without a seatbelt, but we are paying particular attention to children.”

Although the most serious offenders are being given three penalty points, a fine or court appearance, others are being offered the alternative of taking an online driver alertness course to brush up on their Highway Code.

PC Shorrock said: “At the end of the day we’re not trying to prosecute people, we’re trying to educate them.”

PC Shorrock said police are also targeting motorists driving whilst on their mobile phones.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: “Wearing a seatbelt is a very effective way of reducing the risk of being fatally or seriously injured in a crash, while using a mobile phone and driving adversely affects driver performance and increases the risk of crashing.

“Although people know that it is against the law to use a phone while driving, or not use a seatbelt, sadly many people still do both.

“The effectiveness of the legislation depends on how well it is enforced, so we congratulate Lancashire Police on this initiative.”