- Officers stopped a driver with an unrestrained woman and child in the back seat
- He was given a penalty notice and a warning for driving with expired registration
- Police also slapped the woman with a penalty notice for not wearing a seat belt
- Many commenters have criticised police for their weak response to the incident
A driver has been issued with a penalty notice for allowing an adult and an unrestrained child to travel in the back of his car on Christmas Day.
Police stopped the Toyota Corolla at Ashfield after discovering that the registration had been expired since December 21.
But when officers approached the vehicle, they discovered a woman sitting in the back of the car without a seatbelt, holding a sleeping one-year-old child on her lap.
A driver was stopped with an adult and an unrestrained child traveling in the back of his car
The driver was issued with a formal warning for driving with an expired registration as well as a penalty notice for travelling with an unrestrained child.
The woman was also issued a penalty notice for not wearing a seatbelt.
‘We cannot stress enough how irresponsible and dangerous this sort of behavior is,’ a police spokesperson said in a statement.
Authorities will now prepare a report for the Family and Community Services regarding the danger the child experienced by not being strapped into the correct car seat.
Police stressed that it was ‘irresponsible and dangerous’ to drive with an unrestrained child
Meanwhile, hoards of people have taken to social media to bemoan the weak sentence with many hitting out at police for not issuing a fine to either of the adults.
‘No rego. Unrestrained child. Unrestrained adult. And they just got a warning? Seriously?’ wrote one frustrated user.
‘That’s why they do it! If they don’t care about their own safety, at least they should have got a huge fine, so they can learnt their lesson!’