The Bedfordshire and Luton Casualty Reduction Partnership started a hard hitting, shock publicity campaign this week across Bedfordshire to remind drivers of the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

Drivers will see bunches of flowers placed along the length of  the A6 from Luton to North Bedfordshire and a series of posters will messages that will change throughout the duration of the campaign, concluding the week before Christmas.

In the three years from 2006 to 2008, 87 people died in road traffic collisions in Bedfordshire, including 51 vehicle drivers and passengers who should have been wearing a seatbelt at the time. Almost half – 22 out of 51 – were not.

A spokesperson for the Partnership said: “These shocking and tragic figures do make you wonder how many people’s lives may have been saved if they’d been wearing a seatbelt. And that’s the important message behind this campaign – ‘every journey, every time, belt up for life’. It really can make the difference between life and death.”