MORE than 450 people were stopped for not wearing their seat belts during a month-long safety campaign in the New Forest.

The Think! initiative was run jointly by Hampshire police and Hampshire County Council's road safety team to hammer home the dangers of not wearing seat belts, particularly for children.

The Forest was targeted because it is the second-worst area in Hampshire for child accident casualties. In 2001, more than half the children hurt were passengers in vehicles.

Letters were distributed by the county council through schools in the Forest, warning parents of the dangers of not wearing seat belts, and an exhibition bus toured the area.

That was followed by a series of checks and 353 people not wearing seat belts were stopped and offered the choice of a £30 fixed penalty ticket or a visit to the bus, where they were given an educational talk and a hard-hitting video to watch.

Eight people opted to take the tickets and the four people - from a total of 345 - who failed to turn up at the bus will face court action, which could mean a fine of up to £200.

During a second week of ticketing, 101 people were stopped, with 90 fixed penalty notices issued, nine warnings given and two reported for other offences.

"It was disappointing to see so many people not wearing seat belts," said Lyndhurst-based traffic sergeant Graham Skinner.

He added: "Although figures were drastically reduced during the second week, we can only hail this as a success if the number of injury road traffic incidents goes down in the years to come."

Lyndhurst sergeant Chris Sweeney echoed the warning regarding the extra risk of injury for people not wearing seat belts.

Sgt Sweeney said: "We have often attended incidents where people have died because they were not wearing seat belts.

"I know there have been instances where seat belts have caused injury, but those injuries would have been a lot more serious or possibly fatal if a seat belt was not being worn."

The officers also pointed out that although that initiative may have ended, the on-going campaign to crack down on failure to wear seat belts will continue.