PARENTS throughout Bolton are "gambling with their children's lives" by flouting seat belt laws, a police crackdown has revealed.

An alarming 80 drivers were issued with on-the-spot fines -- in just six days -- after traffic police officers spotted children travelling in vehicles without seat belts.

It represents a near three-fold increase on the 28 drivers fined for the same offence during a similar police operation last year.

And today police chiefs admitted they were "appalled" by the number of motorists interviewed by traffic officers and issued with £30 fixed penalty notices.

Sgt Barry Fairclough, of the Bolton Police Traffic Unit, said: "In the event of an accident, a child who was not restrained would become a human bullet.

"They could cause serious injury to themselves and other people in the car because they weren't secured by a seat belt. They could be thrown through the windscreen or smash into the dashboard.

"I'm appalled by the results of this campaign. These drivers are not taking responsibility for the young people which the law insists upon.

"It's no excuse to say that a child will not wear a seat belt in the car. Every time the child takes the seat belt off the driver should stop and make them put it back on."

Between February 6 and 11 a team of traffic officers scoured the town specifically on the look-out for motorists who were allowing children to travel without wearing a seat belt. Under the law, governed by the Road Traffic Act 1988, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure any child under 14 is secured by a seat belt. Children over 14 are responsible themselves for belting up.

A total of 116 motorists were stopped by police officers, with 80 receiving the on-the-spot fines and a further 36 being warned about the dangers of driving while not wearing a seat belt.

Since 1983 it has been a legal requirement to wear a seat belt in the front of a car. And since February it has been the law to use the restraints whenever they are available.

Today safety experts slammed the Bolton motorists who had allowed children to travel unsecured.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said: "Any motorist who allows their child to travel unsecured is taking a terrific risk. Turn to Page 2 From Page One Seatbelt shock "Figures have shown that an unrestrained child can be killed in an accident at just five miles per hour.

"Parents who don't insist on their children wearing a seat belt are gambling with their lives."