s.t.o.p.p.e.d.
Sheriffs Telling Our Parents & Promoting Educated Drivers
In January 2004, Sheriff Parker
introduced a voluntary parental notification program dealing with teenage
drivers. This program is designed to allow law enforcement to notify a parent
if their teenage driver is stopped for committing a traffic violation, for
unsafe driving, or for any other reason. This gives the officer an alternative
to issuing a citation, and allows a parent to become involved if the child is in
need of remediation, discipline or parental counseling. This program is also
designed as a deterrent to unsafe driving; whereas teenage drivers having
knowledge that they are a part of this program are more likely to obey traffic
laws and drive safely. Parents or legal guardians of teenage drivers can
register for the program and obtain a free STOPPED
sticker from the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office. This numbered,
registered sticker is affixed to the vehicle’s windshield. If the vehicle is
stopped while being operated by a teenage driver, the parents are notified.
In the first 40 months of operation, Tehama County parents have voluntarily
registered 63vehicles with the Sheriff’s Office. During that time, (4)
enforcement stops were made on vehicles registered in the
STOPPED program. Three of the drivers stopped
were 16 year old females, and the fourth was a 17 year old female; all of whom
had provisional licenses. The violations noted by the officers were (1) unsafe
speed, (1) lane violation, (1) for having passengers in the vehicle and (1) for
a passenger not wearing a seat belt. Most
notably, none of the 63 vehicles or the teenage drivers registered in this
program were involved in traffic collisions!
For more information on this successful program, feel free to contact Sheriff
Parker at 529-7950 or
cparker@tehamaso.org.