Qld camera fines: How they work and the bizarre appeals behind fines
Queensland’s mobile and seatbelt cameras have been generating funds as quickly as they have sparked debate since they were switched on. These are the most bizarre cases.
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A state of law-breakers, government revenue-raising, or both?
Queensland’s covert mobile and seatbelt cameras have been generating funds as quickly as they have sparked debate since they were switched on in 2021.
In March 2023 it was reported that 467 drivers – or about nine every week – have been caught using a mobile phone while not wearing a seatbelt.
While Transport Minister Mark Bailey slammed the behaviour from the drivers as “disgraceful”, it reignited debate among drivers.
Here is how the cameras have worked and some of the cases being disputed.
WHEN AND WHY DID THE CAMERAS GO LIVE?
Drivers busted on covert camera illegally using their mobile phones or not buckling up were warned they would be fined from November 1, 2021.
The hi-tech cameras nabbed thousands of reckless motorists since they were switched on in July 2021, with more than $20 million in fines racked up if not for a three-month grace period.
A total of 21,599 warning letters were sent to registered vehicle owners – 18,313 were for mobile phone offences and 3286 for seatbelt offences.
“We’ve given drivers ample time to get used to the cameras and change their reckless behaviour,” Transport Minister Mark Bailey said at the time.
“Now there are no second chances and we will be penalising drivers doing the wrong thing.”
WHERE HAVE PEOPLE BEEN GETTING CAUGHT BY CAMERAS?
Queensland motorists were fined over $30 million for using their phones and not wearing seatbelts, and Brisbane drivers were the worst offenders, data from April 2022 revealed.
In the first three months of the covert cameras, 37,594 fines were dished out – 26,491 to drivers using their phones and 11,103 to people not wearing seatbelts.
It means more than $27.3 million in fines were given out to drivers breaching the mobile phone rule and $4.6 million in penalties were dished out to those caught breaching seatbelt laws between November 1 and February 7.
In traffic-dense Brisbane, drivers accounted for over half the mobile phone offences, with almost 300 people a week being caught by the fixed and roving cameras.
HAVE PEOPLE BEEN ABLE TO FIGHT THE FINES?
In January 2023 hundreds of Queensland motorists who were given a fine for not wearing a seatbelt had their penalty withdrawn after choosing to fight it.
Since the hi-tech cameras began dishing out fines in November 2021, there had been 953 cases (up until January 2023) 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.
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.
In February 2023 the state government closed a loophole that could have allowed Queensland motorists to escape without a fine if their phone didn’t have a SIM card installed, therefore it wouldn’t be officially classified as a mobile phone.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE APPEALS AGAINST FINES?
‘What the actual f**k?’
A Gold Coast mother in October 2022 learnt about a little known traffic infringement rule the hard way after she was fined more than $5,000 for wearing her seatbelt incorrectly.
Lauren Hyland was snapped by new hi-tech traffic monitoring cameras with her seatbelt under her arm instead of on top, an offence that would usually see the guilty party fined $1,078 and docked four demerit points.
But instead of the usual fine, Ms Hyland was hit with a whopping $5,390 fine because she was behind the wheel of a business car instead of a personally registered vehicle at the time of the incident.
“What the actual f**k,” Ms Hyland wrote on social media alongside a snap of her fine.
“Because my seatbelt was under my arm, not on top. $5,390!”
In Queensland, traffic infringements charged to company vehicles are five times the dollar amount private car owners would pay to accommodate for the lack of a demerit point scheme for businesses.
Brisbane woman fights fine after caught vaping
A Brisbane woman in December 2022 claimed she had been wrongly fined after being caught on a covert traffic camera using a vape.
Lillian Morrow, 19, said she was “outraged” after she was wrongly accused of using her mobile phone, resulting in a $1078 fine and four demerit points.
“Quite clearly holding my trusty vape and my phone is on the passenger seat,” she said.
“I elected for the matter to be heard in court almost a month ago, but haven’t heard anything.”
Miss Morrow was travelling north on the Pacific Motorway in August when she was photographed by an overhead camera at the Parkwood Coomera Overpass.
According to Queensland legislation, vaping (considered smoking) is illegal in a vehicle if someone aged 16 or under is present.
Father’s camera fines overturned
The state government was in February 2023 scrambling to introduce new seatbelt rules after the family of a boy with a disability was hit with multiple fines from hi-tech road cameras.
Sunshine Coast father Marty Smith was slapped with three fines because his 10-year-old son – who has level 3 autism – was caught on camera several times involuntarily not wearing his seatbelt properly.
Mr Smith was given the fines over a period between June and November while his son Sebastian was a passenger in his vehicle, with the penalties putting him at risk of losing his licence.
Sebastian’s mother Rachel said the family was moving house at the time, with the fines issued from a hi-tech camera as they were travelling near a tunnel.
“He would go in the car for an hour and about the time that we’d hit the tunnel, he would cry and become very distressed,” Ms Smith said.
“And obviously in the tunnel, you can’t pull over. So we just had to kind of drive until we were safely able to pull off the road. The photos of him show him crying. You can see the seatbelt on him still, but he’s pulled it off because he’s so distressed and rocking.”
The family submitted a medical exemption in September – which was after the first two fines were issued.
But Ms Smith said authorities only waived the subsequent fine and did not apply the exemption retrospectively to the other two penalties.
After being contacted Transport Minister Mark Bailey said all the fines issued to Mr Smith were to be waived.
Passenger’s ‘high-risk’ behaviour
Debate raged on social media in October 2022 after a photo emerged of a motorist’s bizarre seatbelt fine caught on a roadside mobile phone detection camera.
A photo of the busted motorist went viral after being shared on popular Facebook group Phone and Seatbelt Detection Camera Locations Queensland.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads said that the passenger’s behaviour would have resulted in an infringement notice in relation to “passengers not wearing a seatbelt or wearing it incorrectly”.
The motorist was hit with a $1078 fine and lost four demerit points after the camera caught them on the Pacific Motorway at Upper Coomera.
Social media users debated over what the passenger was caught doing.
“Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh surely not … OMG,” said one.
“Did someone fall asleep on your lap? Is that what your being fined for?” one wrote.
A DTMR spokesman described the passenger’s actions as “high-risk behaviour” that could have lasting consequences including a serious or fatal crash.
Coast woman fined for driving with phone in bra
A Gold Coast woman was hit with a huge fine after being caught on camera with her phone stuffed in her bra.
Jenny Pilz took to the Phone and Seatbelt Detection Camera Locations Queensland Facebook page in November 2022 to complain about the fine and ask if it could be challenged.
“Hello, I’ve been fined for “resting my phone on my body”,” she told the page’s 35,000-plus members.
“Unfortunately, I did what many females do, and carried my phone in my bra lol. Parts of it have been visible and the camera caught it.
“Has anyone had this happen to them and is there any point fighting it? I don‘t think it’s clear that it’s a phone, could be a wallet or something else. I had both of my hands on my steering wheel.
“4 (demerit) points just really hurt not to even mention the $1078 fine..”
Phone-addicted motorist fines top $30,000
A single Queensland motorist had been busted using their mobile phone behind the wheel a massive 31 times in just one year, racking up a hefty fine bill of more than $30,000.
And another driver has been snapped on camera on 40 occasions not wearing their seatbelt properly over the same period.
It was revealed in February 2023 that in the first year the state government rolled out hi-tech offence-detection cameras on the roads, 10,893 individual drivers were caught more than once using their mobile phone.
This included 7872 motorists who were nabbed twice, 1775 who were caught out three times, another 620 drivers who were busted four times, and 626 who were fined five times or more.
The highest number of times an individual driver was caught on camera using their phone during the 12-month period was 31 occasions – which means they would have been hit with more than $31,000 in fines.
Woman’s undies caught on mobile phone detection camera
A snapshot of a female driver’s underwear inadvertently taken by a mobile phone detection camera in March 2023 sparked a government review into privacy concerns.
The NSW Government announced it would launch a review into the cameras after Sydney woman Cinzia Lee complained to Service NSW after being snapped using her phone while driving, with images of the incident showing her underwear.
Ms Lee said the upskirting incident shocked her when she saw the image. “Shock and distress was my initial reaction,” Ms Lee told 2GB’s Ben Fordham, “you could see up my skirt, between my legs, you could see my underwear.”
She claimed her response from Service NSW over the incident “basically ignored everything that I said, except to say that someone in the office does look at the photos, so I just felt that just wasn’t an acceptable response”.
She spoke to a prosecutor, who Ms Lee said “went totally red and flushed”.
“He said ‘I’m sorry this has happened’.”
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