Police enforcing child seat law for children under 12 years in the automobile

These controls will take place near kindergarten and elementary schools. The Police Department has seen an increase in injuries in children who are involved in car accidents.

The leading cause of these injuries is because of o the lack of child safety. It is too often that parents allow their child under the age of 12 to sit either in the front passenger seat with no seatbelt on, and even if the child is in the backseat, they are not wearing a seatbelt or sitting in a child seat as indicated by law.

The Police are warning parents, grandparents, and everyone operating an automobile with children younger than 12 years, that the safety of the child goes first. Child safety is having a child strapped in a child seat or booster seat and buckled up in the backseat.

Under our traffic laws, "the driver of a motor vehicle is prohibited from carrying children under the age of 12 in the front passenger seat. A driver is not permitted to transport a child under the age of 12 on public roads if the child is not in the rear seat, neither in a correctly installed child seat or booster seat and always with the seat belt on.

This law serves to protect innocent children during traffic accidents. Child protection also applies in traffic. Parents have time to get a proper child seat or booster seat and ensure their backseat safety belts are properly functioning.