Change to seatbelt rules as father’s camera fines overturned

The state government is 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.

The state government is 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 The Sunday Mail contacted the government this week, Transport Minister Mark Bailey said all the fines issued to Mr Smith would now be waived.

“I was concerned to hear … about the situation faced by the Smith family,” he said.

“There are legitimate reasons for some Queenslanders to have medical exemptions for not wearing a seatbelt and this is clearly one of them.”

Mr Bailey confirmed the government would now adopt measures allowing permanent and, where applicable, retrospective exemptions for people with disabilities from being fined.

It will mean exemptions will no longer require a renewal every 12 months.

After the fines were waived, Ms Smith said the family was relieved basic common sense had prevailed.

“You cast a wide net with something like a seatbelt camera and you’re going to catch people who don’t belong in that net,” she said.

Deputy Opposition Leader and Member for Kawana Jarrod Bleijie, who first raised the Smiths’ case in Parliament, said “It shouldn’t have got to this”.

“This is another example of the state Labor government ignoring the concerns of Queenslanders until it becomes a media issue,” he said.

In their first 12 months, the hi-tech cameras snapped more than 50,000 drivers and passengers not wearing a seatbelt.