• Infants should ride in rear facing safety seats as long as possible.
• Children who are at least 1-year-old, weigh 20-40 pounds, and can no longer ride rear-facing due to reaching the height or weight limit of their rear facing seat should ride in forward facing child safety seats.
•  Children over 40 pounds should be correctly secured in belt positioning boosters or other appropriate child restraints until the adult lap and shoulder belts fit correctly (around age 8).
• Once the vehicle safety belts fit children, both lap and shoulder belts should be correctly used.
• Children 12 and under should be properly restrained in the back seat.
• Any safety seat must be installed and used according to the manufacturer's instructions and your vehicle owner's manual.

There is not yet a credible rating system for child safety seats in place. Since all current child safety seats must meet the same standards, you may want to visit a store with a wide variety of child safety seats and ask the manager if he/she will let you install the store's display models in your car. Most stores are fairly receptive to the idea of bringing one model at a time to your vehicle. Ask these three questions about each model you consider:

1. Does it fit your child? Check the manufacturer's instructions to ensure that your child is within the allowable weight and height ranges for a specific safety seat, and that he/she also meets the recommended age development characteristics. Some general guidelines are that:
    
   • Infants should ride in rear-facing safety seats as long as possible, until they are at least 12 months old AND weigh at least 20 pounds.
   •  Children who are at least 1 year old and weigh 20-40 pounds should ride in forward-facing child safety seats (if they can no longer ride rear-facing).
   • Children over 40 pounds should be correctly secured in belt-positioning boosters or other appropriate child restraints until the adult lap and shoulder belts fit correctly (around age 8). 
2. Does it fit your vehicle(s)? - Not all child safety seats can be correctly installed in all seating positions of all vehicles. Be sure to read both the child safety seat and vehicle instructions. In general, a correctly installed child safety seat should not move more than 1 inch side to side or forward, when pulled at the safety belt path. 
3. Will you use it consistently and correctly? - Different child safety seats vary in design and features. It is important to choose one that you and your child are comfortable with, and that you will correctly install and adjust for every ride.

There are several issues surrounding used child safety seats, so in general they are not recommended. Here are a few of the concerns: 

• The full history of a second-hand safety seat may be unknown. It may have been damaged in a previous crash, weakened by inappropriate use and storage, or otherwise compromised. 
• All of the original parts, instructions and labels may not be present and in good condition. Parts substituted from other models are inappropriate, as are other user modifications, and can compromise the safety of the seat.
• The safety seat may be recalled. Missing or damaged labels may make that difficult to assess, and determining whether a recalled part has been repaired or replaced can also be difficult. 
• The safety seat may be too old. Most manufacturers agree that a safety seat that is more than six years old should not be used. This is primarily due to the facts that performance standards frequently change and incorporating new technologies protect children better. In addition, replacement parts and instructions may no longer be available for older safety seats, and manufacturers may no longer be in business. 
• https://www.nhtsa.gov/car-seats-and-booster-seats/used-car-seat-safety-checklist

Arizona law requires an appropriate safety seat up to the age 8 unless a child is more than 4 feet 9 inches tall (57 inches).  This height is used because that is considered to be the standard by which a vehicle seat belt should fit correctly. 

While most families are used to the idea of keeping kids in safety seats until they are around 5 years old, many are not aware that children need safety seats much longer than that. Vehicle safety belts are designed to protect adults and older children, and they must fit correctly to provide that function.

Looking at current vehicle designs, child growth patterns/charts, and general lessons learned through observation, many advocates have concluded that vehicle safety belts don't fit until kids are 8, 9, 10 or even 11 years old. As a result of this fact, combined with the fact that boosters are not yet widely used, we see a great number of serious (and fatal) injuries to children. Internal organ and spinal column injuries often result from improper belt fit.

Children should ride in boosters until at least age 8 or they are 4 feet 9 inches and the vehicle safety belts fit correctly. Correct fit means: 

• The child can sit all the way back against the vehicle seat, with knees bent comfortably over the edge.
• The lap belt remains snugly across the bony areas of the lower hips/upper thighs (not the soft abdomen).
• The shoulder belt remains snugly positioned across the chest and collarbone. 

If any of these criteria are not met, it is likely that the child needs a belt-positioning booster seat. 

Mesa Fire and Medical Department does not provide free car seats.  Please visit:

• Safe Kids Maricopa
• Children Are Priceless Passengers Program, CAPP

The increasing needs of older motorists are becoming apparent as a greater proportion of our nation's motorists fall into the 65 or older age group.  The natural aging process results in a steady decrease in the abilities needed to perform the driving task. 

The affect of aging upon vision, hearing, coordination, range of movement, strength, attentiveness, and response time have been well documented through research. Concerns over how these limitations affect motorists has resulted in several research studies that document both these limitations and that (sometimes) make recommendations that could off-set these limitations. 

The most recent of these large studies resulted in the January 1998 publication of the Older Driver Highway Design Handbook, by FHWA.  The recommendations found in this handbook were strongly reflected in the Millennium edition of the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which became the law of the land for most Cities, Counties and States on January 16, 2001.

In addition to new standards in the MUTCD, and as a result of the above referenced handbook and previous research studies, traffic control signs have gotten larger, more legible, incorporate more symbols, and have more reflectivity. 

Traffic signal faces have also gotten larger, are better located within fields of view, and longer walking times for pedestrians are becoming common, as are pedestrian refuge islands, and other safer provisions for pedestrians. 

Speed humps span the entire street width. They have a curved profile and a height of 3". Speed cushions are modified speed humps which we use on streets that have been designated as an emergency fire route. They are divided into sections to allow vehicles with a larger wheel base, such as a fire truck or ambulance, to straddle them while having less of an impact on their response time. For more information regarding speed humps and cushions, go to this page.

For traditional enforcement, contact the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-4760 or submit a Traffic Enforcement Request Form.  In addition to traditional enforcement, the Police Department offer two community programs to curb neighborhood speeding:  the Speed Trailer and the Block Watch Program. 

For more information on the Neighborhood Watch program, please visit Neighborhood Watch page.  Speed trailer information can be found on the Police FAQs page.

The WALK (man), the flashing DON'T WALK (flashing orange hand),  and the steady DON'T WALK (steady orange hand) symbols make up the pedestrian timing.  The WALK signal indicates that it's alright to begin crossing the street.  The flashing DON'T WALK signal indicates that you should not begin to cross the street, but should continue safely across the intersection.  The steady DON'T WALK signal indicates that you should not begin to cross and that you should complete your crossing and get out of the intersection as quickly as possible.

The WALK interval is usually very short, sometimes as brief as six seconds.  The flashing DON'T WALK timing is normally based on the crossing distance of an intersection and a person's average walking speed. 

Not all crosswalks have pedestrian push buttons, but for those that do, the side street will remain green for a longer amount of time if the button is pushed.  Some of Mesa's streets are very wide, so it may take a greater amount of time for a person to cross them.

In addition, some intersections do not have pedestrian push buttons, but do have pedestrian indications.  These locations are set to service the pedestrian every time the concurrent vehicle green indications are active.     

You can either submit an online report or call our hotline at 480-644-3191. When reporting a streetlight, please let us know your name, phone number and the address or precise location of the streetlight . Please also note whether the light is out, cycles on and off, or is burning during the day. Currently, the turn-around around time for repairing streetlights is 15 business days from the day it was reported.

Please note that the City does not repair private lights such as lights in trailer parks, apartment complexes, private parking lots, private sub-Departments, gated communities, or on private property. These lights are usually the responsibility of the owners of the property or are maintained by Salt River Project.

There are some areas in the City that have a City of Mesa mailing address but are not incorporated into the City. The City does not maintain the lights in these areas (examples of these are Dreamland Villa, Leisure World, Thunder Mountain). These lights are private or are maintained by Salt River Project.

In addition, there are also some Special Improvement Districts (agreements between Maricopa County and Salt River Project before these areas were annexed into the City) in the City that have most of their streetlights repaired by Salt River Project. Some examples of these are: Apache Wells, Desert Sands, Arizona Skies, Golden Hills, Fountain of the Sun and Twin Knolls.

For more information on streetlights maintained by SRP, call them at 602-236-8490.  Learn more about City streetlights.