BMW clocks 106mph on Northampton road with toddler not wearing proper seatbelt in the back

A BMW driver was clocked at over 100mph on Mereway in Northampton with a toddler in the backseat not wearing a proper seatbelt.

Court documents showed Calin Mecheres, aged 36, was measured doing 106mph using the calibrated speedo on a police vehicle on the 70mph stretch between Queen Eleanor and Hunsbury roundabouts in November last year.

Northampton Magistrates Court heard how officers stopped the BMW 350 and then found the toddler, aged under three, in the back seat not wearing the appropriate seatbelt.

Mecheres, of Wade Meadow Court, in Northampton was disqualified from driving for 50 days and ordered to pay a total of £1,058 in fines, prosecution costs and a surcharge to fund victim services.

Speeding and not wearing seatbelts are two of the ‘fatal four’ offences — alongside drink or drug-driving and using a mobile phone while at the wheel — which are most commonly linked to deaths and serious injuries on roads.

More than 2,000 drivers were caught without a seatbelt in Northamptonshire last year.

And, even more frighteningly, 25 of the 126 fixed penalty fines issued for passengers not belting up were for CHILDREN aged between three and 13.

Police released the shocking statistics as part of a Belt Up campaign earlier this year aimed at driving home the message that seatbelts save lives.

In all, 2,394 seatbelt offences were detected across Northamptonshire during 2020 and PC Dave Lee of the Force Safer Roads Team admitted: “Having attended a number of fatal road traffic collisions where people have been ejected from the car, the consequences of not wearing a seat belt just aren’t worth contemplating.

“By not wearing one, you’re 30 times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle and twice as likely to die from injuries as a result of a collision. So please take responsibility for your personal safety on the roads and belt up!

"We all have a responsibility to set a good example to our children — yet in this county last year, we issued a total of 25 fixed penalty notices to motorists as a result of a child aged 3-13 years not wearing a seat belt in the rear of a vehicle.

“It's such a basic piece of road safety advice and could be the difference between life and death in a road collision."

Children up to 12 years old or up to 135cms tall are required to use a child car restraint when travelling in cars.