Driver charged after buckling beer instead of children

A man has been arrested and charged after he was caught driving with crates of beer buckled to his passenger seat while unrestrained children sat on the floor of the car.

Two cases holding 60 cans of Emu Export and Victoria Bitter were found strapped into a seat while children were left unrestrained (Photo: Kimberley District Police / Facebook)

Police in Western Australia arrested the 27-year-old driver when out on patrol, later describing the incident as “unsurprising” given the remote location and locals’ “attitudes” to alcohol.

The unnamed driver, who also had a suspended license, was picked up by police in the remote community of Broome, Kimberley District after they spotted several children, including an infant baby, unrestrained on adult passenger’s laps and in the footwells of the car.

Meanwhile, two crates of beer holding 60 cans were strapped to the passenger seat.

“We do have problems up here in the Kimberley,” the district’s superintendent Allan Adam told abc.net.au.

“It shows some of the attitudes of some of our road users in the way they see their priorities.”

“We are doing our best to stamp it out through enforcement but we are also about to embark on public education, which is obviously needed in remote communities.”

It was the third recent traffic incident involving large amounts of alcohol being transported along the route, he said.

“We’ve also got some serious concerns around the number of people that are driving on suspended licences and also not restraining themselves and their passengers.

“And unfortunately on a large number of occasions those passengers are kids.”

The driver has been charged with driving without authority and failure to restrain a child.