Child safety shock for checkpoint staff

A disturbing find at the Otara road policing safety checkpoint was how many children were unrestrained in cars. Photo / Natalie Slade

A highchair with its legs cut off was being used as a child's car seat, police revealed after a road safety operation in South Auckland yesterday.

And half the taxis stopped at a police checkpoint were ordered off the road because they failed safety checks.

More than 4000 vehicles were stopped during Operation Gary in Robertson Rd, Otara.

Constable Martin Carroll, of the Counties Manukau road policing unit, said one car he stopped had a boy of about 6 in a booster seat in the front, and a child in the back sitting in a highchair with the legs cut off.

"It's frightening ... It's a daily occurrence. Plunket was saying that out of about 15 cars they would stop, 10 of them would not have secured their seats in properly, or not know how to."

He said child restraints were by far the most common problem officers dealt with yesterday.

Sixteen of 32 taxis inspected were ordered off the road.

Most of the safety breaches were believed to be failing to have fire extinguishers, first-aid kits or not having their meters fastened properly.

Mr Carroll described it as a "frightening statistic".

"That's effectively half, so if you look at taxis on the road that's one in two that shouldn't be there. I'm quite staggered that 16 taxis either got green stickered or pink stickered and told they have to get off the road."

Taxi drivers would also be stung with hefty fines after at least 21 infringement notices were given out.

"But talking to the [officers] the infringement notices will go up because there were certain things they couldn't do down there, like looking into logbooks, because that gets quite time consuming," he said.

But taxi drivers were not the only ones caught out by the campaign. Mr Carroll told the Herald 64 vehicles were seized because of unpaid court fines that totalled $88,000.

Some drivers - alarmed at the prospect of losing their cars - managed to raise as much as $14,000 by arranging payment or ringing family for help.

However, more disturbing was the "phenomenal" number of unrestrained children.

"I heard someone say 'why aren't you children restrained?' ... And they said 'well I don't care'."

Others, though, were receptive to the intervention and spoke to Plunket staff at the scene to get advice on child restraints.