Queensland’s new Road Safety Strategy for 2022-31 focuses on reducing lives lost on the road after new seatbelt and mobile phone cameras installed in November 2021 revealed large amounts of motorists were not following the rules.
The cameras are part of the wider Camera Detected Offence Program and use artificial intelligence to detect front seat occupants using a phone or not wearing a seatbelt. They can be portable and are often moved to new hot spots. According to the report, 20,500 fines were given in the first two months of the cameras being implemented. Of these fines, 14,800 were issued for using a mobile phone illegally and 5,700 for front seat occupants wearing seatbelts either incorrectly or not at all.
Not swayed by these figures? According to StreetSmarts (a Queensland government initiative), research on speeding has shown that 56% of Queensland motorists confess to speeding on over half their trips. Another alarming statistic - one in three people killed or injured in a speeding crash aren’t the driver of the vehicle.