RF police expand call for zero tolerance to seat belt offenders

Spurred by the dramatic nationwide increase in child-restraint use and a 12.3% decrease in child fatalities in 2 years, the River Falls Police Department is joining the next Operation ABC Mobilization.

The decrease in child fatalities was noted when crackdowns began on drivers who endanger children by failing to buckle them into child-restraints while in vehicles. Stepped-up enforcement of child passenger safety and seat belt laws begins Nov. 22 and continues through the Thanksgiving holiday.

Officers will be looking for and ticketing "deadbeat drivers," according to Sgt. Janis Bock. "Deadbeat drivers are those who - despite all the recent attention to child passenger safety - still don't take the responsibility for protecting their child passengers by buckling them up," Bock said.

Operation ABC Mobilization is sponsored by the Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety Campaign, in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation's "Buckle-Up America Campaign."

For more information, call Bock at 425-0909.