Program alerts parents when young drivers are pulled over.

The Leelanau County Sheriff's Department is instituting a new program designed to alert parents whenever their young drivers have been pulled over on the road.

SGT. MIKE LAMB of the Leelanau County Sheriff's
Office shows where a “STOPPED” sticker is applied
to a vehicle. The sticker prompts deputies to send
a notice to parents whenever they pull over a
vehicle driven by minors.

The program is known as STOPPED, which stands for “Sheriffs Telling Our Parents and Promoting Educated Drivers.”

Sponsored and funded by the Michigan Sheriff’s Association, the program calls on parents to register vehicles driven by their children with the Sheriff’s Office and place a sticker with a registration number in the front driver’s side windshield of the vehicle.

If deputies have cause to pull over a vehicle that has a sticker, they can note the registration number and fill in a notification card that is subsequently mailed to the parent or the owner of the vehicle.

National surveys have shown that 75 percent of young drivers age 16-21 said they would not tell their parents if they were stopped by police, according to Sgt. Mike Lamb of the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Department. The idea of the STOPPED program is to make parents aware of the circumstances of their young driver being stopped and gives deputies additional enforcement alternatives, he said.

“This program is entirely voluntary and provides another link between the Sheriff’s Department and parents,” Lamb said. “As a parent myself, I can guarantee you that my own vehicles will have a STOPPED sticker.”

Lamb noted that in 2005, drivers age 15-24 years old were responsible for a disproportionate number of traffic crashes in Leelanau County. Young drivers age 15-24 represent only 12.5 percent of Leelanau County’s population but were responsible for 183 traffic crashes, or 25-percent of the total.

Drivers aged 15-24 were also responsible for 32.4 percent of the alcohol related crashes and 22.2 percent of the fatal crashes in Leelanau County during the same period, Lamb added.

“The STOPPED program is not any kind of Big Brother government program,” Lamb said. “It’s funded primarily by the Sheriff’s Association. Nobody will be pulled over just because they have a sticker. In fact, a deputy probably won’t even be able see the sticker until after the car is stopped.”

Parental notification is voluntary and non-intrusive to parents. “This program establishes a partnership with parents and law enforcement and enables the enforcement of parental rules,” Lamb said.

Lamb said he is planning to make presentations to various groups around the county in hopes of signing up as many parents as possible. For more information, call the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office at 256-8800.