Mum fined $400 for pumping breast milk in the passenger seat while her husband was driving
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Mom charges $400 to pump breast milk in passenger seat while driving home with husband: ‘At first I thought it was a mistake’
- A driver was fined $413 and three demerit points
- His wife was in the passenger seat expressing breast milk.
- The ticket went to the mother who was incorrectly wearing a seatbelt.
A young mother was fined $400 for failing to wear a seat belt properly while pumping breast milk in the passenger seat of the car.
Rianna, from Brisbane, was returning home from a wedding with her husband Stephen in the driver’s seat and their 11-month-old son Louis sleeping in the back seat when she started pumping milk.
The 28 year old said kidspot She had no qualms about pumping in the car like she had many times before, but in that moment she got an expensive lesson.
A month later, Stephen received a notice in the mail that fined him $413 and three demerit points because his wife was “improperly” wearing a seatbelt.
A mother was fined $413 for “improperly” wearing her seat belt when she moved the belt for a moment while pumping breast milk in the passenger seat as her husband drove her home.
Rianna was still nursing three times a day when she attended a wedding with her family 90 minutes from her home.
She didn’t have a chance to pump during the wedding, so she thought about pumping in the car so she could go straight to bed when they got home at midnight.
In May 2022, a month into the trip, Stephen found the breach in the post.
“I saw it and I was like, ‘Uh-oh, you’ve got a ticket!’ Then she opened it up and said, ‘You’re kidding’… because it was actually me who did it,” Rianna said.
A month after the trip, Rianna’s mother’s husband was fined $413 and three demerits. She said she thought the ticket was a “mistake” when she first saw it.
Traffic cameras detected the mother wearing her seat belt “incorrectly” when she moved the strap under her breast to put on and remove the bomb and adjust her clothing for a few moments.
‘I was about to or had just finished pumping both breasts. She normally had her seatbelt on the entire time she was pumping, so for this to happen was a really shocking moment,” she said.
Rianna was thankful she wasn’t photographed on display with her dress undone and said she initially thought the ticket was a “mistake.”
She said that although Stephen wasn’t overly concerned about the penalty, he was “disappointed” that Rianna couldn’t be the one to take the points despite being responsible for the offence.
The experience has shaken Rianna, who said she is a “rule follower” as she finds it “frustrating as a mother” who could be penalized for trying to do the right thing for her son.
She believes first-time offenders shouldn’t pay a fine or have demerits deducted and said she will never make the same mistake again.
‘As a passenger you should be able to do things like this, but they’ve made it too difficult this way. Nothing is easy for moms,” she said.