Seatbelt, mobile phone fines behind surge in SPER debt to $200m

Higher mobile phone, seatbelt and other traffic fines are behind a surge in outstanding debt, with motorists typically taking up to a year to pay.

Higher seatbelt and mobile phone fines have led to a jump in debts under the State Penalties Enforcement Registry, with Queenslanders likely to take a year to pay the harsher penalties.

The value of SPER debts aged 90 days to one year jumped from $164m in 2021-22 to $218m last financial year, new figures show.

Higher mobile phone, seatbelt and other traffic fines were blamed for the jump as Queensland’s total SPER debt fell slightly from $1.28bn in 2021-22 to $1.27bn last financial year amid the number of unpaid debts fell by 287,000.

Treasurer Cameron Dick said the figures proved the success of the Queensland Revenue Office in keeping debt manageable.

“In the last financial year, even though the number of referrals to QRO have increased by 37 per cent, the amount and value of debts up to 60 days remains stable,” he said.

“Higher fines are typically more difficult to collect initially, and more likely to be subject to payment plans which have an average life of around one year.”

The number of debts aged more than 10 years fell by 18,000 to 616,952 – totalling $198m.

STAGED PHOTOS. TMR campaign images for seat belt and mobile phone detecting cameras.

Drivers could be fined $1161 and lose four demerit points for using a mobile phone while driving.

About 260,000 infringements have been issued for mobile phone and seatbelt offences across Queensland since special detection cameras were switched on in November 2021.

Of those, 69 per cent were for mobile phone offences while 12 per cent were for drivers not wearing their seatbelt or not wearing it correctly and 19 per cent were for the front seat passenger not wearing their seatbelt or not wearing it correctly.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said all money raised through the camera detection offence program was reinvested in road safety initiatives and education programs.

“I expect all road users to obey the road rules,” he said.

“If everyone does the right thing, everyone stays safe and no one gets a fine.”

The state government earlier this year closed a loophole that could have allowed motorists to escape without a fine if they were caught using their mobile phone behind the wheel by claiming it did not have a SIM card installed.

New regulations were introduced by the government to close the loophole that could have allowed someone to claim their device was exempt from distracted-driving rules because the device could not connect to mobile networks.

Originally published as Seatbelt, mobile phone fines behind surge in SPER debt to $200m