FIRE fighters held a fruit-smashing extravaganza to hammer home a serious road safety message.
Road safety officers climbed a 30ft fire service ladder to drop dozens of melons in Whitby.
The fruit hit the ground with a force similar to that at which an unbuckled passenger flies through the windscreen in a car crash.
The stunt was part of a campaign to encourage more people, particularly children, to wear seatbelts, and to educate people on new car seat legislation.
North Yorkshire County councillor Peter Sowray, executive member for road safety said: "Nationally, children are four times more likely to be injured when walking or cycling as when they are travelling in cars.
"But in North Yorkshire, children are almost as likely to be injured as car passengers as when they are walking and cycling.
"This is a very bleak trend and one that the council's road safety team, along with the police and fire and rescue service, is working tirelessly to combat."
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