Need help with 4 seat belt tickets!

Hi,

We got 4 tickets in June of last year. I have just discovered this site and I'm writing today with the hope if someone can help us out. On that particular day, the police officer was standing at the ramp where the highway begins around 1:30pm Saturday afternoon doing routine seat belt check. The officer issued us 4 tickets in total. 3 to my husband and 1 to me for not wearing a seat belt as a passenger. Each ticket is in the amount of $240. We had all our 5 kids in the van that day. My husband is the one who strapped the baby in her car seat and made sure everyone had their seat belts on in the beginning of the trip.It was a hot day,over 30 degree Celsius and no AC in the van. Just before my husband decided to take Hwy, we were stuck in a traffic due to construction. My 15 month old baby was crying non-stop as she was hungry and had pooed. Our baby was sitting in her car seat right behind the driver's seat and I was right behind the front passenger seat. At that point, I decided to change my baby's diaper and feed her my breast milk because I wasn't sure how long we'll be stuck at the traffic. As I was trying to nurse her and at the same time trying to change her diaper, my 9 year old daughter who was sitting at the very back in between her two siblings jumped to the baby's car seat with the intention of help me change baby's diaper . My 13 year old son who was sitting beside my 9 year old had to help unbuckle his sister and in order to do that he removed his own seat belt. Yes, my son did not put his seat belt back on right away as he was waiting for his sister to come back to her original spot. As my daughter came to the front and squeezed herself in the baby's car seat trying to help me out, I didn't realize that my husband had started to head towards highway ramp. All this was a chain reaction: my baby cried and I removed her from the car seat, my 9 year old daughter came to the front and my son had to remove his seat belt to help his sister unbuckle. It was very chaotic, hot and loud in the car as I had also asked my husband to put baby's favourite song on to calm her down.When the officer approached our van,I quickly removed my seat belt to put my shirt down as at that time I was breast feeding my baby. The police saw the baby on my lap, my 9 year old daughter sitting on the baby's car seat and my son and myself not buckled up. The officer charged my husband with: 2 tickets with HTA 106(4)(a)(2) for both my 9 year old and 13 year old and HTA O.Reg 613 8 (3) for the baby.

My husband had absolutely no idea what was going on in the back as he was concentrating on the traffic and couldn't hear anything in the back because of baby crying and the music playing. I tried explaining twice all this to the officer but he would not listen and kept on asking for my kids ages and checking the car seat. Since my husband DID make sure everyone was properly buckled up in the beginning and all this happened so fast (in 2-3 minutes), and he didn't know that I had removed my baby from the car seat and my other kids were not wearing seat belt, my husband feels that these charges are not fair. A friend of mine told me about requesting a disclosure. When I picked it up, it just has the charges, ages of kids and where they were seated.

If I'm not mistaken, the ticket that was given for my 9 year old daughter sitting on baby's car seat should have been HTA 106 (4)(a)(1) instead of HTA 106 (4)(a)(2). If it is a wrong ticket, would that be counted as a fatal error? Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Request a trial. During the trial you can ask the officer any questions you feel are relevant to proving yourself innocent... although I think in this circumstance, you guys deserve every ticket you received.

Good luck.

Talisa wrote:

My husband had absolutely no idea what was going on in the back as he was concentrating on the traffic and couldn't hear anything in the back because of baby crying and the music playing. I tried explaining twice all this to the officer but he would not listen and kept on asking for my kids ages and checking the car seat. Since my husband DID make sure everyone was properly buckled up in the beginning and all this happened so fast (in 2-3 minutes), and he didn't know that I had removed my baby from the car seat and my other kids were not wearing seat belt, my husband feels that these charges are not fair.

The driver is responsible for everyone under the age of 16 inside his vehicle. If your husband doesn't feel responsible, who is? Should the officer charge your 15 month old instead? I don't think she would do well in court.

Talisa wrote:

At that point, I decided to change my baby's diaper and feed her my breast milk because I wasn't sure how long we'll be stuck at the traffic. As I was trying to nurse her and at the same time trying to change her diaper, my 9 year old daughter who was sitting at the very back in between her two siblings jumped to the baby's car seat with the intention of help me change baby's diaper . My 13 year old son who was sitting beside my 9 year old had to help unbuckle his sister and in order to do that he removed his own seat belt.

It seems lucky you ran into a Police Officer and not something much less yielding travelling in the opposite direction.