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WA Suspended Driver Charged After Buckling Up Cases Of Beer Instead Of Kids

Man Uses Seatbelt To Secure Case Of Beer, But Doesn't Buckle Up His Kids
Kimberley District - WA Police

A Western Australian man has been charged by police after being found with unrestrained children in his car, while cases of beer sat buckled up in seatbelts.

Police said that the suspended driver had children laying on adults laps and seated in the foot wells of the car.

Broome Police Sergeant, Paul World, who was involved in the traffic patrol of the Great Northern Highway in Broome that found the driver, said that while the event may sound comical it was not an isolated incident.

“Over the last three to four weeks we have been extending patrols further and further,” World told The Huffington Post Australia.

“Last week we actually stopped 65 cars and of these, 15 were suspended drivers and 20 had unrestrained kids in the car."

One of the vehicles, a Toyota RAV4, was reportedly driven by a highly intoxicated driver, with 10 passengers -- six of those being unrestrained children.

Police reportedly asked the driver why and could not ascertain a real answer.

In December, a six-week-old baby girl was killed after being thrown from a car which had rolled over on the Great Northern Highway, it is thought she was sitting on her mother's lap.

World said that police were taking the issue very seriously, highlighting that one in three drivers on remote roads in the Kimberley District were driving without licences and predominantly with unrestrained children in their cars.

The Kimberley District’s Police Superintendent is reportedly in the process of trying to put a package together and reach out to community groups in order to advocate safe driving practices, according to World.

Police will maintain and now escalate their road policing activities on the Great Northern Highway and are committed to actively reducing dangerous driving practices.

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