More AI cameras on the way as 53,000 drivers fined for not wearing seatbelts correctly

More AI cameras are on the way for WA as new figures show nearly 300 drivers a day are being slapped with fines for someone in their car not wearing a seatbelt correctly.

The advanced technology safety cameras, which went live in October and have issued 53,000 seatbelt fines in the first six months, have caused controversy as hefty fines were issued for what some people claim were minor seatbelt sash adjustments.

Sixty per cent of those that lodged an appeal over their fines successfully had them overturned, but the Department of Transport said its data showed 99 per cent of infringements were issued correctly.

“The cameras have proven to be extremely effective in detecting and changing unlawful driver and
passenger behaviour,” a department spokesperson said.

Before the infringement period began, 114,000 seatbelt caution notices were issued during a dummy eight-month ‘soft launch’ of the cameras, over double the number of actual fines issued since.

This reduction is a sign the cameras are working, Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby said.

“These new safety cameras have actually changed behaviour, and I’ve no doubt they’ve actually saved lives,” he told ABC Radio.

“When you look at the figures, less than 4 per cent [of fines] have been withdrawn, it shows that the vast majority of fines are accurate. It also shows that of those people who do take issue and ask for a review, 60 per cent are successful. So that’s a good system. It’s a system that works.”

Whitby said he had compassion for drivers who were fined because their passengers were the ones wearing their seatbelts incorrectly.

“I have some sympathy, particularly with drivers who need to be looking out of the front of the window, not to the side, to see what their passenger is doing,” he said.

“So I’ve asked the Road Safety Commissioner, at the end of last year to conduct a major review of all infringements, not just relating to safety cameras or seat belts, but he was given the brief to look at all infringements.”

Whitby said it would be 2027 before a review of the fines would be complete.

“This is a big body of work,” he said.

“We need to get it right. I want to get it right, and I want to consider the issues that are being raised.”

Whitby added that more cameras would be rolled out in a “staged approach”.

“I think letting people know, making sure we have the resources to dealing with the infringements as they’re coming through, is very important,” he said.

The Department of Transport said 5,237 infringements were withdrawn on appeal over the last six months, which WA Premier Roger Cook said was as a result of drivers being fined multiple times in quick succession before they had received an infringement notice and had a chance to correct their behaviour.

“People are often getting penalised once, twice or three times before they’re even aware that a fine has been raised in their name,” he said.

“So obviously, there’s going to be some elements of this in the early days which need to be bedded down, but the police have the operational oversight in relation to this and I think they’re doing a good job bringing this in.

“This is a reminder to everyone that when you’re driving a car, don’t be distracted by your phone, wear your seatbelt properly, ensure everyone else in the car is also abiding by the laws of the road.”

Perth man Ross Taylor launched an advocacy group in relation to the fines and told ABC Radio he felt the motive of the cameras was revenue raising.

“Based on the trial [authorities knew] approximately 100,000 people a year would be fined for seatbelt offences, that would generate about $55 million for the state government,” he said.

“The bad news for the treasurer and the revenue was that of those 100,000, something like 90,000 were actually wearing their seat belts, and all it was, was that they had a passenger that momentarily adjusted their sash belt.

“So the opportunity was there for the government to say right at the outset that when these cameras went live, that they would aim it at people not being buckled in and send out a warning or disregard the minor things of a sash belt. But that would have dropped the revenue from $50 million a year down to about $8 million. That’s a lot of dollars.”

A total of 184,232 fines for speeding, seatbelt error or distracted driver have been issued since October, equalling nearly 100 fines a day.

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