Steve Thornton, chairman of the West Yorkshire Cas-ualty Reduction Partnership, is in talks with councils in Yorkshire and Humber in the hope the campaign can be rolled out across the region.

He said: "Calderdale's campaign has been highly successful and people have been very impressed with the results which show many more people are belting up in their cars.

"I am now in the process of arranging a meeting with other local authority representatives to discuss the practicalities of making this a campaign which can work across the whole region."

Kate Marsh, of Calderdale Council road safety team, said: "The fact there are councils from different parts of the country interested in what has been happening here in Calderdale shows what a brilliant success the first year has been. The next year can only get better."

Belt Up was launched after a number of fatal crashes involving unrestrained drivers and passengers and a study by Calderdale Council highlighted some shocking facts.

In just seven days, in June last year, police and safety officials stopped 800 people who were not wearing their seatbelts – they even caught a driving instructor who was not strapped in.

The Courier joined forces with the council, police, fire service and NHS Trust to get the message across to belt up – no matter how short the journey.

Calderdale secured Govern-ment funding of £185,000 to be ploughed into seatbelt education and enforcement.

Posters reinforcing the seatbelt message went up across Calderdale and police and road safety officials took to the streets, stopping motor-ists who were not belted up.

Within days, our campaign was being praised by Halifax MP Linda Riordan and police chiefs who said the issue was a matter of life and death and needed to be highlighted.