A B.C. Supreme Court judge has upheld $525 in fines against a woman caught driving and using her cellphone while her child was not wearing a seatbelt.
However, it wasn’t the fines that led Sunyoung Kim to appeal.
What bothered her was ICBC levying four points against her licence as a result of the conviction.
In her newly released July 31 decision, Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick said Kim was issued a ticket on March 12 for the two offences under the provincial Motor Vehicle Act (MVA).
The judge said Kim promptly paid both tickets.
“By doing so, Ms. Kim was deemed to have entered a guilty plea, which of course gave rise to the convictions,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said the notice of appeal indicated an appeal of the sentence.
The judge, however, agreed with the Crown’s characterization of the case as Kim wanting to withdraw the guilty plea.
“Ms. Kim says that she would like the court to remove the points imposed on her and decrease the amount of the fines,” Fitzpatrick wrote.
The ruling noted Kim admitted her errors.
“She admits that she touched her cellphone, which is contrary to the MVA. She also admits that one of her children who was sitting in the back seat was not wearing a seat belt,” the judge said.
“Needless to say, both of those infractions raise serious safety concerns and, for obvious reasons, such behaviours must be discouraged, if not outright banned, by the MVA provisions,” she said.
Fitzpatrick found there was no basis on which Kim’s deemed guilty plea should be set aside.
