A grandmother has been fined after footage emerged of a 2-year-old standing up unrestrained in the back of a convertible travelling on Auckland's Southern Motorway.
A video of the toddler was uploaded to Facebook, with the poster describing it as
"shocking" and writing that "parenting skills cease to exist".
The video has had more than 3000 views since it was posted, and showed the car's two occupants seemingly unconcerned at the child's dangerous position.
Acting Inspector John Bleackley, road policing manager for Waitemata police, confirmed this afternoon police were contacted yesterday by a concerned member of the public.
"Enquiries were made immediately and the driver of the car, the grandmother, and the mother of the child were spoken to by police.
"The driver has been issued with a $150 infringement notice for failing to ensure a child under 7 years old was in an approved child restraint."
He confirmed the child is 2 years old.
The police officer involved reinforced the importance of child restraints in vehicles and both the mother and grandmother were "very apologetic and remorseful", Bleackley said.
"It has been widely publicised that in the past year, use of seatbelts and restraints has reduced, and this is sadly reflected in death and serious injury statistics.
"The dangers and what could have gone wrong in this video speak for themselves."
