'No excuse': Dad caught allegedly speeding on Ontario road with unsecured toddler in car
by Phil Tsekouras , CP24.comA father was caught speeding in Caledon, Ont. on Saturday while his young child was left unsecured in a car seat, police say.
The Ontario Provincial Police said in a tweet Monday that they stopped the vehicle which was travelling at a speed of 81 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.
According to police, the incident happened at approximately 3 p.m. on Heartlake Road, just north of Mayfield Road, in Caledon.
After the officer stopped the driver, he said he discovered a two-year-old child “just sitting in [a] car seat no straps on and car seat not even secured itself.”
Police said the 32-year-old driver from Toronto tried to explain that his child gets “fussy” when strapped in.
“He and the mother figured it was easier to just not buckle her in to make her calm,” OPP Const. Ian Michel told CTV News Toronto in an email.
“The mother also said it was OK because she was in the back with the child - also not wearing her seatbelt.”
Michel said that there are “no words to describe this level of negligence.”
“Not only is the child in danger of being easily killed in a collision but the parent not being buckled in caused even more danger.”
“Both would've become projectiles in a collision and the drivers speed only heightened the chance of this.”
As a result, the driver has been charged via a court summons, which means that he faces potentially heightened fines for speeding and failing to ensure that his child passenger was properly secured, police said.
Police added that the mother was also charged for failing to wear a seatbelt.
Michel said that the car seat was installed properly by the officer at the scene, as he is a child seat technician.