Sergeant Darrin Turnbull didn’t expect to find a small child in a cardboard box on the backseat of a car he’d just pulled over for speeding in Airdrie on June 23.
“It was a standard traffic stop. I was talking to the driver who was searching for the documents and I noticed the box on the back seat was moving. I thought, ‘There’s going to be puppies in the box’ because it was covered with a towel,” said Turnbull, with the RCMP’s Integrated Traffic Unit.
“I asked, ‘What’s in the box?’ and then a hand sticks out and I heard, ‘I am.’ I was speechless. The adult was not the one making the decisions in that car.”
The driver has been charged with speeding – 80 km/h in a 60 km/h zone - and with failing to properly secure a child in a motor vehicle under the Alberta Traffic Act. Turnbull said the name and gender of the driver as well as the location in Airdrie where the traffic stop took place are not being released to protect the identity of the child.
“We’re not doing this to shame the adult driver. We wanted to try to educate others. Let’s try to learn from the mistake of this adult,” Turnbull said. “If you’re not 100 per cent sure how to install your child seat or how to properly use a booster seat or what you should be doing for your child, find out. Ask. Get help because there are resources available.”
Turnbull said anyone who is experiencing difficulties installing a child seat or booster seat can call the local health unit for information about resources in the community.
He said the RCMP works with community organizations educating the public about child seat safety.
“There are also private companies out there that do this now. Google and find a private company in your community or nearby,” he said. “You’re going to pay a small fee to get it done but they come out, they teach, they instruct and you get some one-on-one time.
“Car crashes are the leading cause of serious injury and death in young children,” Turnbull added. “When you look at that situation, we need to do better. We as a society owe it to our children to keep them safe.
“When we put (a child) in a properly installed child seat or a booster seat, whether it’s front-facing or rear-facing, we need to make sure it’s done right by the manufacturer’s specifications, because if it’s not done right you might mistakenly think your child is safe.”
