California IN BRIEF : CAMPBELL : Bumper Stickers Aim to Tame Teen Drivers

A city with radar drones, decoys and hidden cameras to nab speeders is turning to Mom and Dad to tame teen road terrors. A new bumper sticker parents can put on their teen’s car says, “If I’m driving irresponsibly call my parents.” Two alternates say “call my Mom” or “call my Dad.” The family’s phone number is displayed in black marker. “If my parents would have threatened me with this I would have cleaned up my act,” Campbell Police Chief Jim Cost said Friday. So far, police in Campbell, a city west of San Jose, have sold only about 20 $1 bumper stickers, which the agency buys from a New Mexico man and his 20-year-old son who came up with the idea three years ago. But Cost expects sales to pick up once the word gets out that they’re available. Or maybe not. “I wouldn’t let my parents put that on my car. There’s no way,” said 18-year-old Caroline, who was driving a new baby blue Ford Taurus and didn’t want her last name used. “I don’t think my parents would. They trust me.”