“Welcome to reality”: Dad fined for daughter's seatbelt mistake receives little sympathy
A Queensland father has posted a plea for help on social media, after he received two hefty fines adding up to $2,156 for his daughter’s simple seatbelt mistake.
The father claimed that he was completely unaware of what his daughter was doing, after cameras caught her wearing her seatbelt incorrectly twice as a passenger.
"Just received two x $1078 fines plus total 8 demerit points, only 2 weeks apart for my 13yo daughter not wearing her seatbelt correctly. Had no idea that she was wearing it that way as can’t see from the driver's point of view," he wrote on Facebook.
The frustrated dad revealed that his daughter had made the same mistake twice within two weeks and asked whether it was worth taking it to court.
He also asked if "any chance of somehow reducing the penalty".
According to the Queensland Government fines and demerit points apply for not wearing a seatbelt or wearing it incorrectly, and that drivers “may be fined for each unrestrained or incorrectly restrained passenger in the vehicle”.
Dozens of people have responded, but many didn’t sympathise with the dad saying that they both should’ve known better.
"You as a driver are responsible for everyone in the car. Perhaps you need to be firm with your daughter. Welcome to reality," commented one person.
"She's old enough to know how to wear a seat belt, just give her the fines to pay and she will wear it properly from then on," wrote another.
Others have said that they should learn from this mistake and be more aware of the dangers of wearing a seatbelt incorrectly.
"Both learn from this and fix the problem for next time before your daughter flies out of the car in a crash," said one person.
"I’d suggest you forget about the law and just think of the damage done to your daughter in an accident with the seatbelt worn like this," wrote another.
A few others did sympathise and acknowledge that kids can make mistakes despite the adults knowing better.
"I feel for you, I caught my 13-year-old doing this and yelled at her," commented one user.
"These fines are crippling people. I understand to a certain degree but mistakes are made," wrote another.
Image: Facebook