Dinnertime with a teenager can be challenging enough; a little attitude with some picky eating habits is the norm. But if Deputy Mike Woodard comes knocking at your door, the tone of the evening may very well change from the routine, as he may have news for you.
By Sylvie Belmond/Special to The Malibu Times
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Woodard works a regular shift at the Lost Hills/Malibu Sheriff’s Station. He patrols the streets, stops speeders and responds to crime like all other deputies. But he has also adopted a side job that consumes quite a bit of his time.
In an effort to prevent teenage traffic casualties, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs’ Department has a little known deterrent plan called the Sheriff’s Teen Traffic Offender Program. Also known as “STTOP,” the program is meant to inform parents of teens who drive dangerously before an accident happens.
But the approach is new, requiring residents to be pro-active.
STTOP encourages people to call a dedicated STTOP number when they see a young driver involved in unsafe driving habits that could lead to an accident. It is a unique citizen-initiated preventive program that began two years ago.
“The whole purpose is to keep these kids alive,” said Woodard, who single-handedly manages the program for the station, which serves five cities, including Malibu.
Generally, when citizens call in to report that they have seen a teenager driving dangerously, Woodard will pay a visit to the home of the young driver and inform the parents of their son’s or daughter’s actions.
Since these calls originate from the general public, deputies do not issue tickets for the offenses.
“Calling this number is not going to generate an immediate response,” said Woodard. “It’s a preventive measure.”
Upon receiving a call, STTOP will take the information about the driver, preferably a license plate number with a description of the vehicle, description of the driver and behavior of concern, and Woodard will conduct an intervention with the driver and his or her parents in order to correct the dangerous behavior.
Follow-up intervention measures can include anything from a brief discussion to a driving privilege being revoked by parents, he explained.
The program’s purpose is not to prosecute, but to correct and educate the offender and his or her parents, said a STTOP program’s flyer.
“I will not go out and sit on a street waiting for a kid,” said Woodard, emphasizing that the program is not meant to single out anyone.
STTOP works best with young drivers because, unlike adult drivers, they are accountable to their parents, and when a patrol car shows up at a house, it makes an impression on the young person and their parents.
Speed is the most common teen driving offense, Woodard added.
Statistically, in the last 12 months, half of traffic accidents involving teenage drivers, in the area that Lost Hills/Malibu sheriff’s deputies patrol, have occurred in Malibu, but Woodard noted he has not had as much activity reported from Malibu because the community is not aware of the program. Moreover, these statistics could also be due to the number of visitors who come to town.
Malibu High School Principal Mike Matthews thinks the program can be an asset to help teens drive safely. “Anything that reminds students to drive well is a good thing,” he said. “Insurance rates are high for teenage drivers for a reason.”
The STTOP program also notes that 16- to 18-year-olds make up about 12 percent of the driving population; however, they are involved in approximately 25 percent of all collisions.
As he spoke about the merits of the program, Woodard illustrated this fact with pictures that showed a car sitting above another in a parking lot. He described that a young girl, who had passengers in the car, mistakenly pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes within the first 24 hours after she got the vehicle.
The STTOP program is not a full-time job for Woodard, who still has to do his regular 40-hour patrol duty before he gets the messages off the STTOP answering machine and visits with parents. But Woodard feels this program is valuable and he does not mind the extra work.
Aside from the STTOP program, young drivers today are faced with more restrictions before they can freely drive with whomever they want in the car.
The restrictions include a six-month supervision period where the young driver has to be accompanied by a licensed driver over the age of 25 when driving between midnight and 5 a.m., or when transporting passengers under the age of 20, at any time.
But good driving habits also begin at home when parents keep an eye on their children’s driving performance. Technology has caught on with this need. A tracking device called “Smart Driver” can easily be hooked up to a car and removed to plug into a computer for follow up. It tracks the speed, acceleration rate and when the car is used, among other things, and it fits into most cars built after 1997. The cost is about $300, said Woodard.
Malibu residents who wish to report unsafe driving practices can call 1.877.310.STOP to contact the STTOP deputy.