Tairāwhiti Police joined forces with Plunket, charitable trust Te Aka Ora and local Māori wardens in a child vehicle restraint campaign ahead of the holiday season.
Clinics have been held to check child restraints in vehicles to ensure they are correctly fitted and safe to use. While Plunket and Te Aka Ora staff helped check car restraints, Māori wardens provided valuable traffic management.
At the first clinic, 32 vehicles dropped in and 49 baby capsules, car seats, and booster seats were checked.
Tairāwhiti Road Policing Sergeant Eve Tremain says 13 of the seats were fitted incorrectly, one vehicle had an expired seat, another had the wrong size seat for the child, and one had no child seat at all. These whānau were referred to Plunket for a car seat.
She says as part of the clinic they gave out 28 children’s cycle helmets and high visibility vests to those who stopped by.
“The first clinic was a great success. We now know 49 pepi (babies) and tamariki are safe in vehicles on our roads.
“One of the goals for these clinics is to raise awareness in Tairāwhiti of the risk of not correctly restraining infants, toddlers and children, and to equip our whānau with safe restraints for their tamariki when travelling."