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I got a ticket for $240 for being a fourth person on the back seat of a full-sized sedan equipped with 3 seat belts (HTA 106(3)(a) failed to occupy a seating position for which a seat belt assembly has been provided). For some reason the cop decided to pick on me and not the other three people in the back. I was occupying a sitting position just like everyone else and was sitting in the middle. Is the cop justified in picking out and charging one person out of the four on his will? I believe I was wrongly charged, and it was another person next to me, who wasn't "occupying a position". Do I have any chances of winning the case by pleading not guilty?

I do not drive a car yet, but am afraid that it will go on my record and, when I start driving, my insurance will be high because of this.

Thanks!

Keden wrote:I got a ticket for $240 for being a fourth person on the back seat of a full-sized sedan equipped with 3 seat belts (HTA 106(3)(a) failed to occupy a seating position for which a seat belt assembly has been provided). For some reason the cop decided to pick on me and not the other three people in the back. I was occupying a sitting position just like everyone else and was sitting in the middle. Is the cop justified in picking out and charging one person out of the four on his will? I believe I was wrongly charged, and it was another person next to me, who wasn't "occupying a position".

Were you sitting in a spot that was equipped with a seat belt? Were you wearing it?

bend wrote:Were you sitting in a spot that was equipped with a seat belt? Were you wearing it?

Yes, I was sitting in a spot equipped with a seat belt, just like the other three people. We're all skinny and the seats are very wide, so four of us fit comfortably across three seats, but there are only three seatbelts.

I was not wearing a seat belt, but neither were the other three people in the back seat and the charge is not for failing to wear a seat belt, but rather for failing to occupy a position with one.