A Dublin woman had charges for having two children without seatbelts in the car she was driving struck out at Claremorris District Court this week, but she was still convicted and fined for not wearing a seatbelt herself while driving.
Mary Maloney of 101 Cushlawn Park, Tallaght, Dublin 24 told the court that her two children got out of their seatbelts when they saw the blue lights of the Garda car behind them to see what was going on as gardaí pulled her over outside Ballindine last August.
Garda Alan Sheerin told the court that he was on duty on August 11 2008 at 9.30pm when he pulled over Maloney who was not wearing a seatbelt. He noticed that two children were also in the car who were not wearing seatbelts, and that the seatbelts were clipped into the buckle for the belts.
Maloney told the court that she never received the fixed penalty notice for the fine and that her children had got out of the seatbelts themselves to see what was going on when the Garda car turned on the blue lights. She also explained to the court that the reason that she was not wearing a seat belt at the time was that she had a stomach ulcer. Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Maloney €100 for not wearing a seatbelt and dismissed the two summonses in relation to her allowing her children to be carried in the car and not wearing seatbelts.
