THE wreckage of a crashed car was the main attraction at the first roadshow for the Love Your Kids? Belt Them In! campaign.

The Lancashire Telegraph and road safety groups initiative is urging parents to ensure their children are belted in at all times.

And the first roadshow to help spread this message was staged yesterday in Blackburn town centre, with the car centrepiece.

The wrecked Vauxhall Corsa had crashed into a wall. Its 18-year-old driver lost control on a bend.

The front wheel of the car buckled and the driver’s side of the was crushed from the impact.

Had he not been belted in, he would have been flung from the car at the speed the car was travelling.

But police said the teenager’s life was saved because he was wearing a seatbelt.

PC Mark Royle-Evatt, from the road policing unit said: “As a result of wearing a seatbelt he was left with no injuries whatsoever.

“It is important to always wear a seatbelt you don’t know when a collision is going to happen and you can’t predict them.

“They really do save lives.”

The roadshow outside Blackburn Town Hall was part of the new campaign Love Your Kids? Belt Them In! launched by the Lancashire Telegraph with Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety and Blackburn with Darwen’s Casualty Reduction Team.

It was launched after a survey of local children revealed more than half of 10 year-olds and 79.4 per cent of GCSE pupils do not wear seatbelts.

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 additional educational roadshows and will also go also into schools and community centres to get the belt-up message across.