ALEA reminds drivers about the Child Restraint Law

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - While making traffic stops, state troopers have found children on the laps of adults rather than being correctly buckled in a vehicle.

“We have seen situations where in these traffic crashes, we have seen children lose their lives simply because they weren’t restrained,” said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Spokesperson Jeremy Burkett.

State troopers are reminding Alabama drivers to ensure kids are safe and secure whenever they’re in the car.

“If you have a child that is one year of age or 20 pounds, they need to be in a rear-facing car seat,” said Burkett.

Until the age of 7, children need to be in a car seat or booster seat.

Even if your child unbuckles themselves, the driver will be issued a violation.

“We are going to have a zero-tolerance policy, and again it could be a 12 or 13-year-old and they just simply forgot to buckle up, or they didn’t buckle up, or they unbuckled themselves, we are going to issue that citation because it is so serious,” said Burkett.

Burkett understands that when a child cries, a parent’s instinct is to hold comfort them. In that scenario, Burkett says to pull over to care for your child rather than doing so in a moving vehicle.

ALEA teaches and gives tips to adults across the state on how to properly buckle a child in a vehicle. If you would like more information, you can Click Here.

Besides a fine, Alabama drivers can get up to 2 points on their driving record, which could lead to a license being suspended, according to ALEA’s website.

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