The Abbotsford Police Department (APD) launched its "Buckle Your Babies" campaign Wednesday morning with carseat safety checks along Blueridge Drive.
The checks, which ran for two hours near Crestview Avenue, continued for another two hours in the afternoon at another location in the city. A total of 1,000 cars were checked, and 47 tickets were issued throughout the day.
Const. Ian MacDonald said checkpoints will be set up at various sites throughout Abbotsford over the next two weeks.
Police will be stopping drivers to ensure that any children in the car are safely buckled in, that the appropriate carseat is being used and hasn't reached its expired date, and that all buckles and latches are properly secured.
Tickets will be issued where necessary.
MacDonald said more than 1,200 vehicles were checked in 2012 and, of those, about 10 per cent resulted in violation tickets.
He said the focus last year was mainly on carseat-safety education, but this year police expect to issue more tickets.
"Now we're hoping that people have absorbed the message."
Depending on the results of the campaign, further checks could be set up at other times during the year.
MacDonald said police don't hesitate to inform the public when the checks are taking place.
"At the end of the day, if it causes someone to appropriately secure their kids in the car, that's what we're trying to achieve," he said.
The APD has also produced an educational video for the Buckle Your Babies initiative. In the clip, Const. Mary Boonstra references a crash in 2011 in which a three-year-old boy suffered a broken leg. He had been in a carseat at the time, but the seat had not been properly secured in the vehicle.