A seat belt check point conducted in town Thursday morning yielded six drivers who didn’t even have their seat belts on.

But the main emphasis for the checks done opposite Galaxy Theater was to ensure that children’s car seats were being used and correctly installed.

Riverbank’s Traffic Officer Mike Glinskas could not help laughing at one woman who drove up to him and several other police officers waving cars to a stop at a flashing light warning – with her seat belt unbuckled.

“She told me she took it off when she saw the sign because she wanted to see if it was working properly,” he said. “I told her if the judge believed that one, she deserved to get off.”

Glinskas has heard all the excuses in his time including one about a child getting a toy jammed in a seat belt.

Volunteers of the Keep Baby Safe program, conducted by Stanislaus County Health Services Agency with funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety, assisted the officers and inspected all children’s car seats.

Besides checking the positioning, condition and buckles of all seats, they handed out one booster seat and one child’s car seat to replace worn units.

The booster seat lifts a child several inches up so the adult seat belt crosses his or her body in the right position, Glinskas said.

“Most people don’t install car seats properly,” Glinskas noted.

The week was designated National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Week, and the next day was Valentine’s Day. So the volunteers’ leaflets were marked with the slogan “Buckle Up Your Love.”

Only 15 percent of all the children under six years old were buckled correctly, according to figures for the check point.

Of 47 vehicles with 60 adults checked for seat belts, 57 persons or 95 percent, had their belts on.

Among 12 children, ages six to 16, eight were buckled in correctly. All 64 children under six years checked had a car seat or booster seat. But only 10 of their car seats were used correctly.

Three trained passenger restraint instructors, five police officers and two community police officers ran the check point.

Two child restraint citations and three seat belt citations were issued.

Reprinted by permission of the Riverbank News.