Hundreds of people successfully contest seatbelt fines in Qld

Hundreds of Queensland motorists nabbed by cameras and fined for not wearing a seatbelt have had their penalties withdrawn after choosing to fight the matter.

Hundreds of Queensland motorists who were given a fine from camera detection technology for not wearing a seatbelt have had their penalty withdrawn after choosing to fight it.

Since the hi-tech cameras began dishing out fines in November 2021, there have been 953 cases involving about 1265 fines where the driver opted to challenge the infringement notice before a court.

Some of the matters included cases where the driver had been hit with multiple fines.

As of December 2, 335 of these matters had been withdrawn – which meant the fine was torn up – while in two cases, the driver was found not guilty following an unsuccessful prosecution.

An image of a person with a child in their arms while a front-seat passenger.

There were another 269 matters that were still ongoing, as well as 347 matters that had been finalised with a successful prosecution of the rule breaking driver.

A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesman said an infringement notice could be discontinued for several reasons – primarily when additional information or evidence was put forward.

This could include medical certificates relating to the motorist’s ability to wear a properly adjusted seatbelt, or further information about the type of seatbelts in the vehicle.

The TMR spokesman said submissions could also be made about the circumstances of the offending that “might give rise to a defence”.

In other cases, the person who received the fine could also nominate the actual driver who committed the offence to receive the penalty.

“Infringement notices for camera-detected offences are issued to the registered operator recorded for the vehicle. The cameras’ images are filtered by Artificial Intelligence software,” the TMR spokesman said.

Speed, mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras on Sandgate Rd in Brisbane’s north. Picture: David Clark

“If a possible offence is detected, the image is independently reviewed by two authorised officers to determine if an offence has been committed.

“If an offence cannot be identified, an infringement notice is not issued.”

The spokesman said motorists who felt they were incorrectly fined could view their images by logging into the TMR online services portal, or they could submit an online inquiry to have the matter reviewed.

On July 1, the state government significantly increased the fine for not wearing a seatbelt from $413 to $1078 – with the demerit point penalty increasing from three to four.

A massive 56,342 seatbelt fines have been issued from the cameras in the first 13 months of their deployment on Queensland roads – the equivalent of 142 every day.

The majority of the fines – or about 33,288 – were for breaches by front seat passengers who weren’t properly wearing a seatbelt.