The hard-hitting videos have been posted on the internet

Dumfries and Galloway Safety Camera Partnership and Safer Roads for Cumbria have teamed up for the initiative.

In the last three years a total of 44 people aged between 16 and 25 have died on the roads of the two areas.

The move comes after a number of incidents in southern Scotland where police have had to investigate driving footage being posted on YouTube.

The safety groups hope the videos will help get their message across to a "notoriously difficult group to engage with".

The adverts will also appear on local television.

Safety message

Project Manager for DGSCP, Sgt Eric Dunion, said he hoped the videos would reach their target group.

"This new cross-border campaign targeting young drivers, a notoriously difficult group to engage with, delivers our message direct to young people in Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria by utilising new technologies," he said.

"The campaign appears for the first time on Border TV later in the week but already the adverts are being broadcast across the internet on social networking sites typically used by young people such as YouTube.

"Capable of being downloaded to mobile telephones and mailed to one another, I hope that by using these new technologies the road safety message will get to young people and make a difference on our regions' roads."