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Crackdown Targets Drunk Drivers and Deadbeat Drivers Who Don't Buckle Up Kids
By Sgt. Michael P. Mathis
What is worse - an adult who allows a child to ride in a vehicle unrestrained, or an adult who drives children while intoxicated? As far as the Berkeley Heights Police Department is concerned, these drivers are both guilty of needlessly putting children in danger. And during the nationwide crackdown known as the Operation ABC Mobilization, our officers will be stepping up efforts to look for both kinds of offenders.
For the first time ever, the Mobilization, a week of intensified enforcement of child passenger safety laws, will also focus on coordinated enforcement of drunk driving laws. Officers in Berkeley Heights will use checkpoints, saturation patrols and stepped up enforcement from November 20 through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Drivers who fail to buckle up their child passengers will be ticketed. Anyone driving above the legal blood alcohol limit will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This can mean heavy fines, losing a license, or jail, depending on how many previous offenses the driver has had.
All too often we are called upon to pull fatally injured kids from cars - and we'd rather write a thousand tickets than face one more of these tragedies. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death to children, killing 2,000 kids each year. Nearly one fourth of those deaths are alcohol related. And six out of ten children who die in crashes are completely unrestrained.
The public may not realize what officers know firsthand - most children under age 14 killed in alcohol-related crashes are riding with a drunk driver, rather than riding in vehicles hit by drunk drivers, according to disturbing research from the Centers for Disease Control. And the more alcohol consumed by a driver the less likely child passengers will be restrained.
Our officers are joining with more than 8,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide to participate in the Mobilization. We do it because high visibility enforcement works. In fact, deadbeat drivers who refuse to buckle up children admit themselves that it takes strong laws and fines to get them to restrain kids. And in a recent survey of people who drink alcohol, 91 percent said losing their license would discourage them from driving after drinking.
Since the twice-yearly Mobilizations began three years ago, crash-related child fatalities have decreased by 16 percent. And MADD's efforts over the last 18 years to enact effective drunk-driving laws and increase penalties for drunk-driving violations has helped to lower the number of alcohol-related fatalities by 37 percent.
We're glad to have made progress, but there is more work to do. One out of three school-age children (5-15) still ride unrestrained, meaning 15 million children are at deadly risk everyday. According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 1996 estimate, one out of every 280 babies born today will die in a crash with an intoxicated driver.
We are proud to team up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council to keep up the pressure on deadbeat and drunk drivers. Our message is clear: if you put innocent lives at risk by not buckling up kids or by driving drunk, we're going to find you and strict law enforcement action will be taken against you. |
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