WHEN it comes to behaving badly in public, musician Pete Doherty is arguably top of the class with his more extreme behaviour.

But he also hit the headlines recently for an offence which some of us are just as guilty as him of doing - dropping litter.

The Babyshambles frontman was fined £100 last month after being caught throwing litter out of his car near London's Regent Park.

We may not like the look of litter on our roadsides, but a recent survey found the majority of motorists think it is acceptable to throw litter out of car windows.

Millions of drivers up and down the country think nothing of emptying their waste on to the kerb because they are too lazy to look for a rubbish bin.

It is this kind of attitude which has prompted the Highways Agency to launch a campaign to fight the problem of litter on our roads.

The "Bag it, Bin it" campaign is encouraging drivers to pick up special litter bags from service stations and use them to put their rubbish in instead of throwing it from their car window.

The campaign is being supported by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), whose new president - acclaimed author Bill Bryson - has put litter at the top of his agenda.

This celebrity-backing has given the campaign the high profile it deserves, according to David Williams, of CPRE Essex.

"You only have to drive along the A12 or one of the country lanes in Essex to spot plastic bottles, crisp packets and other litter at the side of the road," he said.

Although the responsibility for clearing the litter is with the local councils, Mr Williams said the solution is getting to the root of the problem and educating people about disposing of their rubbish properly.

"It is all about making people aware of the problem by self-education," he added.

Essex may boast a number of picturesque villages, but if they are victims of litter louts it detracts from the whole scene, added Mr Williams.

"It is a real blot on our landscape."

Whilst all litter droppers are not caught, it seems word is getting out that litter droppers, caught in the act, face a £75 fixed penalty notice or a fine of £2,500 if prosecuted through the courts.

Colchester Council ran five campaigns last year, reminding people about the risk of being fined for dropping litter.

Street care and recycling manager Dave McManus said public awareness about litter dropping had increased and there was evidence there had been a "slight improvement" in the town centre.

That aside, he said there were still many people who had little regard for keeping the streets litter-free.

Earlier this week one of his colleagues saw a man walk along the High Street, screw up an empty takeway bag and hurl it across the bonnet of a taxi.

Concerns about the environment may be behind some of the improved behaviour about dropping litter. Problem is, there are still many people who just don't care, said Mr McManus.

The thought of a £75 fixed penalty notice is all that will make some litter louts think twice.

Like the woman Mr McManus fined recently after dropping her cigarette butt. She was sitting on a bench with bins either side. Her decision to dispose of her butt on the pavement proved a costly experience.

Her £75 fine was among the £6,000 paid out by people caught littering since April in the borough.

With the litter offenders likely to tell their tale of woe to friends, family and work colleagues, word will get out that dropping litter might not be such a good thing to do.

As for those who refuse to pay the fixed penalty notice, Colchester Council is dedicated to pursuing offenders all the way to the courts.

After all, nobody wants to get a criminal record over dropping a crisp packet.