A 22-year-old learner driver has been fined $6,077 after Queensland Police allegedly found four teenagers travelling unrestrained in the back of a moving Hyundai iLoad in Ipswich.
Officers said they saw a teenage girl waving a red flag from the vehicle as it travelled along Redbank Plains Road at about 10.30pm on October 14.
When police stopped the van, they allegedly discovered three further teenagers, all aged 14, travelling without restraints in the rear.
Body-worn camera footage captured an officer reacting to the discovery by saying: “This is crazy. Absolutely crazy.”
The driver, a woman from Redbank Plains, was allegedly travelling without an authorised supervising driver and without displaying learner plates.
Police also told her the vehicle was registered to carry only three people, meaning it was allegedly over its permitted capacity.
She was issued seven traffic infringement notices, including four relating to unrestrained passengers aged between seven and 16, along with offences for exceeding the vehicle’s registered capacity, driving unaccompanied and failing to display L plates.
The penalties resulted in a total fine of $6,077 and 25 demerit points. That is well above the four-point threshold for Queensland learner drivers and puts the woman at risk of a three-month licence suspension.
Senior Sergeant Jarrad Tyne, officer in charge of Ipswich Highway Patrol, said the incident showed the importance of ensuring children were properly secured in vehicles.
“Seatbelts and appropriate child restraints are there to protect lives. In a crash, an unrestrained passenger can be seriously injured or killed and can also put other people in the vehicle at risk,” he said.
“Drivers are responsible for the safety of everyone in their vehicle. It is simply not worth taking the risk with children’s lives by allowing them to travel unrestrained. Make sure everyone is properly secured before you put the car in gear.”
Queensland Police said high-visibility patrols were being increased across the state as part of Operation Interpose, which targets dangerous driving behaviours.
