By NATALIE GALLENTI
A MELTON South man had his car impounded for 30 days after he was intercepted for a routine check and police found two children unrestrained in the car.
The 38-year-old’s Commodore sedan was stopped by police on Bridge Rd, Melton South, and police found an unrestrained two-year-old child sleeping in the arms of the front seat passenger, the mother of the children, and a further five children, aged between five and 16, in the rear seat. The five-year-old in the rear seat was also unrestrained and lying across the legs of the other passengers.
Melton Highway Patrol Leading Senior Constable Edwards told Star situations like this can be extremely dangerous and lead to serious injuries even in a low speed collision.
“In the worst instance of overcrowding in recent times a mother rolled her vehicle in Neale Rd, Rockbank with nine unrestrained children, resulting in several of them receiving serious injuries,” he said.
Meanwhile motorists have been put on notice with police saying a “zero-tolerance” approach is being taken in an operation being conducted by the Melton Highway Patrol in conjunction with Melton uniform members.
The operation will continue until the end of July, concentrating on seat belt and mobile phone offences in and around the Melton town centre and Woodgrove Shopping Centre.
Leading Sen Const Edwards said the intersections of Coburns Rd with High St and Barries Rd are two of the highest collision intersections in Melton City.
He said the operation aimed to reduce distraction type offences such as mobile phone use, and increase seat belt usage, in a bid to reduce the number of collisions and the severity of injuries when they do occur.
