There’s being irresponsible and then there’s whatever this woman was doing: a woman from Johnson City, New York, was arrested after being caught with 12 passengers inside her 7-seat vehicle.
To make matters even worse, several of those passengers were children and they were not strapped in baby carseats. Plus, the woman did not have a valid driver’s license, so she wasn’t even allowed to operate a motor vehicle on the public roads, Spectrum Local News reports.
Hayley L. Rodriguez, 26, the woman in question, got busted after someone call the cops to report an overloaded car leaving a local resort parking lot. The caller had noticed that the children weren’t properly restrained in carseats.
“A trooper spotted the vehicle on State Route 17 and initiated a traffic stop. The trooper discovered 12 people in the vehicle, which was only equipped to safely seat seven people,” the report notes. “The trooper also found that there were seven children in the vehicle ranging from ages 3 to 11 that were not in child seats, booster seats, or even belted in the vehicle.”
Rodriguez wasn’t even supposed to be driving: she only had a learner’s permit in her name, which means she could have driven legally if a licensed driver had been in the car. There wasn’t one.
“The trooper stayed with the vehicle for more than two and a half hours to ensure everyone in the vehicle was picked up by a licensed driver with the proper safety equipment,” the report adds.
The woman was arrested, but the publication doesn’t say what exactly she was charged with.
To state the obvious, overloading a car and / or not making sure every passenger is safely strapped in (adults with seatbelts, children with car seats or booster seats) increases the chances of fatalities in case of an accident. It’s every driver’s responsibility to see to the passengers’ safety, but that part must have slipped off Rodriguez’ mind altogether on this particular ride.
Hayley L. Rodriguez, 26, the woman in question, got busted after someone call the cops to report an overloaded car leaving a local resort parking lot. The caller had noticed that the children weren’t properly restrained in carseats.
“A trooper spotted the vehicle on State Route 17 and initiated a traffic stop. The trooper discovered 12 people in the vehicle, which was only equipped to safely seat seven people,” the report notes. “The trooper also found that there were seven children in the vehicle ranging from ages 3 to 11 that were not in child seats, booster seats, or even belted in the vehicle.”
Rodriguez wasn’t even supposed to be driving: she only had a learner’s permit in her name, which means she could have driven legally if a licensed driver had been in the car. There wasn’t one.
“The trooper stayed with the vehicle for more than two and a half hours to ensure everyone in the vehicle was picked up by a licensed driver with the proper safety equipment,” the report adds.
The woman was arrested, but the publication doesn’t say what exactly she was charged with.
To state the obvious, overloading a car and / or not making sure every passenger is safely strapped in (adults with seatbelts, children with car seats or booster seats) increases the chances of fatalities in case of an accident. It’s every driver’s responsibility to see to the passengers’ safety, but that part must have slipped off Rodriguez’ mind altogether on this particular ride.