The campaign comes after research showed 28 people aged under 25 were involved in fatal crashes in Hampshire and the Isle of the Wight in 2004.

The deaths accounted for 44% of all road fatalities last year, with 11 of those killed being passengers.

Campaign posters are being put up in the counties' bars and leisure centres.

Weekend crashes

Supt Mark Bradford said: "Too many people are dying on roads across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, despite the two counties seeing the biggest drop in road deaths in the last year than anywhere else in the country.

"It's particularly worrying that a substantial amount of collisions involving young drivers are resulting in their passengers being killed.

"We hope this campaign will make people think about the consequences that their actions can have on other people as well as themselves."

Police say the highest number of serious and fatal collisions involving young people occur between July and October, with half of all collisions happening at the weekend.

The worst accident hotspots are the New Forest, Basingstoke, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and east Hampshire.