Police to reward buckling children up in cars
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Emporia Police Department will participate in another “Bucks for Buckles” campaign sponsored by Safe Kids Kansas, State Farm and the Kansas Department of Transportation.
The campaign will begin on Friday through Sept. 1 in 35 cities across Kansas.
In Emporia, EPD officer Larry Clay is in charge of distributing $1 bills to drivers who have all occupants buckled up securely in their vehicles.
“Those riding unrestrained will receive educational materials about the effectiveness of seat belts and child safety seats in saving lives and reducing injuries,” according to a news release about the project from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the lead agency for the Safe Kids Kansas coalition.
The project is intended to “encourage families to buckle up and drive safely to protect their most valuable asset, their families,” the release stated.
Safe Kids Kansas spokesman Jan Stegelman said that 416 people died last year on Kansas roadways.
“The single most effective means of protecting the lives of you and your passengers is wearing seat belts and appropriate child restraints every time you ride in the vehicle — even short distances,” Stegelman said.
The 2007 KDOT safety belt survey showed that 75 percent of people 14 and older were wearing safety restraints. The 75 percent is 7 percent lower than the national average of 82 percent.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 3:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Tell Officer Clay he can pull me over anytime. I'm one of those who has everyone buckled up/in car seats. I'm glad they do these promotions. I occasionally see little kids loose in cars and it makes me shudder. The couple of minor accidents I've been in (not my fault by the way), the seatbelt saved me from being seriously hurt.
Posted by jayhawker (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the One Dollar Bills were coming from the sales tax, they better put that program on hold. If not, then the City Commissioners, County Commissioners and the City Manager need to get in their cars, buckle up, and drive back and forth in front of Officer Clay, collecting as many of those One Dollar Bills as possible. We're going to need them.
Posted by MrCmonkeeDo (anonymous) on August 21, 2008 at 11:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Aye God, will the silliness never end?
Posted by justaflushaway (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 7:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
“Those riding unrestrained will receive educational materials about the effectiveness of seat belts and child safety seats in saving lives and reducing injuries,”
how about giving them a ticket ? I agree with monkey, this is just stupid, why bribe them to do something that should be done by anyone who has kids anyway.
Posted by glarson (Gwen Larson) on August 22, 2008 at 9:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The program is sponsored by Safe Kids Kansas, State Farm and the Kansas Department of Transportation, which asks local law enforcement agencies to participate.
It is our understanding that all materials and funding for the program comes from Safe Kids and the other organizations.
Gwen Larson
Managing Editor
Posted by hottopics (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If nothing else it does promote the buckle up laws and safety no matter how silly.
Like they say, "If it saves one life, its worth it"
Posted by MelissaE (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 9:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hmmmm. Rewarding people for obeying laws? It's like rewarding my children for behaving acceptably. If they think they'll get a prize for having a conscience and/or behaving acceptably, then I haven't done my job as a parent.
Is it just me or have parents gone soft? Everyone is so concerned that their kid will hate them for "being mean". Ugh. "Mom, I don't want to ride in that booster seat because Jimmy Downtheroad doesn't have to ride in his." Too freakin' bad, kid.
Do I get an extra reward for having my 8 (almost 9) year old still in a booster seat because he doesn't weigh 80 pounds & he's not 4'9" yet? Not all states mandate 8 years AND 80 pounds, but some do (like Maine and, I believe, California). If your child does NOT weigh 80 pounds, is not at least 8 years old and is shorter than 4' 9", then s/he SHOULD be in some type of child restraint. Otherwise, you should have trouble sleeping at night.
Check it out: http://www.aap.org/family/Carseatguide.h...
Again, those guidelines are not LAW, but the recommendation...and really, who would want their child to be more vulnerable than necessary if an accident were to occur?
Melissa
Posted by jayhawker (anonymous) on August 22, 2008 at 10:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder what kind of can of worms will be opened when Officer Clay attempts to stop a motorist to give him a dollar, but the motorist flees, resulting in a chase, followed by an arrest. Or, the good officer stops a motorist to reward him for buckling up and finds drugs, followed by an arrest. Is wanting to hand out money probable cause for a stop? I bet that the ACLU will love this one.
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)