Revealed: new seatbelt spy cameras see homeless and parents of disabled hit with $3000 fines
A local MP says seatbelt camera fines are just a ‘backdoor money-raising exercise’ after a homeless woman was charged with over $3k in fines. Read what happened
Gold Coast
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Children forced to live in a van on the Gold Coast along with a disabled boy are the unfair victims being caught by new seatbelt spy cameras, according to Opposition MPs.
Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens and Kawana MP Jarrod Bleijie in State Parliament asked the State Government to reduce penalties after fines were increased by 275 per cent in 12 months.
Parents have been fined up to four times, costing them $3000 and their drivers licence.
The cameras in one case caught a disabled boy several times without a belt and in another a homeless young child for not wearing one correctly due to severe discomfort.
Mr Stevens said several people had complained to his office about the fines being unfair and adding millions of dollars in revenue to the Government.
“In June 2022 the fine was $391 — now it is $1078 and a four-point loss on your driver’s licence, even if it is a passenger incorrectly wearing their seatbelts,” he said.
“One woman, who has recently been made homeless, was fined three times in a row — amounting to over $3000 and loss of licence — before she even got notice that her child was incorrectly wearing his seatbelt because of a rash on his body.
“These seatbelt spy cameras have been erected everywhere, so where was the education process about seatbelt wearing for passengers before this backdoor money-raising exercise was put into practice by the Main Roads Minister.”
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the Coast was the biggest hot spot in the state for people not wearing seatbelts.
In the first 12 months of the cameras going live 25,867 seatbelt offences were detected in the city out of 52,542 across the entire state, he said.
Mr Bailey said widespread media coverage for the cameras had occurred for a year before fines were handed out with drivers given written warnings.
“I’m not sure what rock Ray Stevens has been living under, but seatbelts have been mandatory in Queensland for 50 years which in anyone’s language is a reasonable period of education,” he said.
“Despite seatbelts being mandatory for 50 years, not wearing them is still a major contributing factor in more than 20 per cent of fatal crashes on our roads every year.
“On top of this, on average 189 Queenslanders are seriously injured on our roads each year from not wearing a seatbelt or not wearing one correctly.
“In the first four months of our new seatbelt detection cameras going live, almost 14,000 seatbelt offences were recorded, and so the decision was made to increase the fine to deter people even further from not wearing a seatbelt.”
But single mother in a letter to Mr Stevens complaining about the fines said she had been homeless earlier in the year for a month while trying to secure new accommodation.
“For two weeks of this period, my two young kids and I were living in a van which we rented to save on hotel costs and to have a bit of an adventure,” she said.
“I ended up receiving three seat belt fines of more than $1078 each and four points each. I received the fines all in a span of four days so I did not have a chance to receive the first and learn I had made an error.
“The situation was that the van seat belt crossed my four year old daughter in the neck and she would cry when it was on that way so I was tucking it down so only the lap belt was securing her in the seat.
“I completely understand that seat belt laws are important to protect everyone’s safety, especially children, but I was unfortunately unaware that this was a law.”
The Main Roads Department was contacted but advised there would be no leniency.
“I now am nervously awaiting information on what will occur next as a result of this simple mistake that has turned into a major financial problem and I am very worried about impacts on my drivers license. I didn’t have a chance to receive a warning. There was no opportunity for education,” she said.
“The Queensland Government is entirely comfortable stripping a single mother of two weeks salary and causing uncertainty over the future of her drivers license which she relies on to transport children to school and to attend work in the disability sector.”
Mr Bailey encouraged the mother to contact the department “if there is a genuine medical reason that a seatbelt couldn’t be worn correctly”.
Mr Bleijie said the father of a 10-year-old disabled boy at Wurtulla in his electorate was issued with three fines after the new cameras took photographs inside their vehicle.
“These fines were issued because Sebastian (Smith) is pictured wearing a seatbelt incorrectly — not flush across his shoulder — just at the time of the photo. Sebastian’s compulsive disability-related movements are seen as a violation of the seatbelt laws in the state of Queensland,” Mr Bleijie said.
“This is pure discrimination against a 10-year-old boy with a severe disability. His father is about to lose his licence, because of the points he has lost, as well as his job and possibly their livelihood.”
Mr Bailey said he was concerned about the situation faced by the Smith family and the fines have all been waived.
“In light of the introduction of cameras which automatically detect seat belt offences, the government will adopt measures allowing permanent and, where applicable, retrospective exemptions for people with disabilities,” he said.
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