Children unrestrained in cars appals police

1.00pm

South Auckland police are appalled at the number of unrestrained children they found in cars during a continuing safety campaign.

The campaign -- Operation Last Chance -- involves setting up checkpoints in the Papatoetoe, Mangere and Otahuhu areas and checking vehicles with children in them.

Area commander Inspector Bruce Bird said he was "appalled" to discover out of about 2000 vehicles stopped in two weeks, 222 had children either not restrained at all or the restraints were in the cars but the caregiver or parent had not used them.

"That is potentially 222 children who are at risk of being seriously injured or killed if the car is in an accident -- it would be a tragedy for this to happen to any child, especially if it is preventable," Mr Bird said.

He said the campaign was devised to offer drivers the option of paying a fine, or taking a police-issued last chance card offering an alternate option of purchasing the correct restraints for children they were responsible for.

"We would rather parents spend the money on the child restraints and reduce the likelihood of their babies being killed or injured in an accident," Mr Bird said.

In some instances police identified cars where parents wore seatbelts but the children were not in any type of restraint at all.

On one occasion a mother bringing home a sick baby from hospital was strapped in, but the baby was lying on her lap in the front passenger seat.

The campaign follows a horror head-on crash near Kerikeri less than two weeks ago where a baby that had been sitting unrestrained on her mother's lap was one of four people killed.

Police intended running Operation Last Chance for several more weeks.

- NZPA