CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY--A LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSPECTIVE

Although California's Child Passenger Safety (CPS) legislation is almost two years old, there is still a great deal of ambivalence on the part of many law enforcement agencies with regard to the value and need for their involvement in the CPS issue. This article presents the experience that the City of Glendale has had in confronting this issue. Glendale, a relatively large residential city with extensive redevelopment activity, commenced aggressive enforcement of California Vehicle Code Section 27360, "Child Passenger Seat Restraints Requirements," immediately upon the law becoming effective on January 1, 1983. In 1983, approximately 1200 citations for this violation were written and similar statistics are projected for 1984. The child passenger safety issue was viewed from two perspectives: (1) how could compliance levels be raised and child and parent awareness be increased; and (2) how could this issue be one that could be used as a vehicle for street police officers to interact with pre-school and kindergarten age children in a friendly and compassionate manner. The "Buckle Bear" concept seemed to provide a positive answer to both questions.

• Corporate Authors:

  California Peace Officers Association

  802 Forum Building
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95814
• Authors:
  • Post, M S
• Publication Date: 1984

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 18-21
• Serial:
  • JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA LAW ENFORCEMENT
  • Volume: 18
  • Issue Number: 1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Awareness; Child restraint systems; Compliance; Law enforcement; Measures of effectiveness
• Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness
• Geographic Terms: Glendale (California)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00495631
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-039 520
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 31 1990 12:00AM