Checkpoint targets unrestrained children

State Park Police and troopers handed out 39 summonses to drivers for having children younger than 16 riding unrestrained in vehicles or on an adult's lap and corrected 14 ill-fitting child car seats during a dual effort near Jones Beach.

During a four-hour check Saturday at the park toll plaza near the southern end of the Meadowbrook State Parkway, police issued 27 summonses for unrestrained children, Lt. Tony Astacio, commanding officer for State Park Police at Jones Beach, said. Another 12 summonses were issued for children ages 1 to 4 and weighing less than 40 pounds not riding in car seats as required by law.

"We saw minivans overloaded with kids, and kids on an adult's lap with no restraint, which is a recipe for disaster in an accident," Astacio said, adding park police handed out water bottles as gifts to cars with all occupants properly secured.

A short distance to the north, State Police issued 80 tickets to drivers, including 48 for adults not wearing seat belts, State Police spokesman Frank Bandiero said.

Between 300 and 400 cars passed through the troopers' road-check each hour and while many vehicles had children as passengers, most were in compliance with the child safety seat laws, said Lt. Robert Downs, State Police assistant zone commander for Nassau County. Of 20 child seats, police corrected 14 and provided a free seat to one family.

One ticket involved a child not properly secured by a seat belt while another 32 were issued for a range of violations -- from unregistered vehicles to having no front license plate.

Under New York State law, all passengers in back seats must wear seat belts, but the violation is applied to the driver if a backseat passenger not wearing a seat belt is younger than 16.

The education and enforcement effort was one of several conducted around the state this summer after parks staff noticed vehicles jammed with passengers visiting state parks.