Police ticket armless motorcyclist for driving without a seatbelt?
TWO seatbelt stories to consider. The first is set in Canada, where Steven Simonar, 55, from Saskatoon, is upset about the $175 ticket issued by police for not wearing a seatbelt. Mr Sakatoon has no arms. This , he says, makes fastening the belt tricky when driving alone.
Simonar says the police told him:
“He became very ignorant, and said, ‘Well if he can’t put his seatbelt on maybe he shouldn’t be driving.’ That’s what really made me mad…
“It never dawned on me I’d get a ticket, because I’ve been stopped numerous times and I’ve never had an issue. You just have to look once to figure it out… I’ll go to jail over this – I am not paying that ticket.”
In the second story we meet Paul Booker, who was riding his motorbike through High Wycombe when police stopped him. He was told he had an incorrectly-sized registration plate:
“I wasn’t paying much attention to what he was writing, you don’t really, do you? I just accepted it…. It was only alter when I read the fixed penalty notice , that I saw I;d been booked for not wearing a seatbelt. I don’t mind paying a fine if I have genuinely done something wrong but to fine me for not wearing a seatbelt when I am riding a bike is ridiculous. I went down to Cowley Police Station on Saturday morning to see if they would tear it up but they said they couldn’t do anything. I also phoned Oxford Police Station and they said there was nothing they could do either.”
Police spokeswoman Francine Rodriguez told journalists:
“I can confirm a fixed penalty notice was issued to a motorcyclist with the wrong penalty code – driving without a seatbelt – in error by a police officer. The incorrect fixed penalty notice has been withdrawn. No further fixed penalties are being issued at this time.”
Posted: 2nd, May 2013 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
