Exclusive: It was a chilly winter’s day in July when Laura was driving back from the NSW Southern Highlands to Sydney on the Hume Motorway.

Her friend was rugged up in the passenger seat with a shawl covering her chest and shoulders.

It was at that moment a mobile detection camera snapped a photo of inside the car.

Laura and her passenger, pictured in an infringement photo provided by Revenue NSW. Revenue NSW

Laura, who asked for her name to be withheld for privacy reasons, was fined $423 and hit with three demerit points, with NSW Revenue alleging her friend was not wearing her seatbelt correctly.

It’s a claim Laura adamantly disputes.

“There is no way she was not wearing a seat belt,” Laura told nine.com.au.

“And the seatbelt was worn correctly, it was just underneath the shawl, which she was using like a blanket.

“You can see the folds in the shawl very clearly,” Laura said, of the photo provided by Revenue NSW of the alleged offence.

Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at EMcPherson@nine.com.au

Laura challenged the fine with Revenue NSW, but it was upheld after a review.

Her only remaining option to fight the fine was to go to court, a move she said was simply not possible due to her work commitments.

“The likelihood of me getting time off work is close to nil,” Laura said.

Laura relented and paid the fine last week, despite insisting her passenger had done nothing wrong.

Her case is similar to dozens of drivers who have contacted nine.com.au over the past few months, who claim they have been falsely accused of seatbelt offences, but have paid up anyway due to being reluctant to face the stress, cost or time needed to take the matter to court.

However, Sydney lawyer Mickaela Mate, principal of Mate Lawyers, who has defended clients with seatbelt fines in court, said many of the cases she saw deserved to be challenged.

In her experience, Mate said the photos provided as evidence by Revenue NSW, and used by Transport for NSW to prosecute motorists, often fell short of the courtroom standards needed to prove a seatbelt offence beyond reasonable doubt.

“The image quality in itself is not always the greatest, and so, in my view, it’s often poorer than it is good,” Mate said.  

The black-and-white photos were often blurry and visually confusing, she said. 

“The thing that I’m actually seeing the most is that you’re just left wondering – because the picture is not conclusive either way,” she said.

Mate said in most cases she had been able to get her clients’ seatbelt fines withdrawn or dismissed, either by writing to Transport for NSW and pointing out the deficiencies in their evidence, or by successfully defending her clients in court.

A ‘David and Goliath’ battle for drivers 

However, Mate acknowledged that going to court could be a stressful and time-consuming experience for many people.

The legal fees for engaging representation in court could be prohibitive, and were likely to outweigh the value of the fine, she added.

It was often a “David and Goliath” situation, and challenging a seatbelt fine in court was not without risk, Mate said, with fines of up to $2000 and the – albeit slim – possibility of a criminal conviction imposed if a motorist lost their case.

Nine.com.au has spoken with one NSW woman who had her seatbelt fine successfully dismissed after engaging the services of Mate. 

In her case, a blanket was covering her torso and she said she was certain of her innocence.

The woman initially turned up to court unrepresented.

However, after pleading not guilty and discovering she could potentially face thousands in fines, she found the experience so stressful she decided to hire a lawyer.

The court conundrum

NSW driver Gary Blackley knows all too well how intimidating defending a seatbelt fine in court can be.

Blackley was fined back in March after his teenage son was snapped allegedly not wearing his seatbelt correctly at Sutton Forrest, on the Hume Highway. 

Photos provided to Gary Blackley by Revenue NSW of his son’s alleged seatbelt offence. Revenue NSW

While the photos he was provided with were “vague” and “unclear”,  Blackley said he was certain his son was wearing his seatbelt correctly, with the top sash going across his chest and between his neck and shoulder.

Speaking to nine.com.au before his court appearance, Blackley insisted he could see a “faint outline of the belt” in the correct place.

Determined to fight the “outrageous” fine, Blackley elected to got to court. 

After being quoted a fee of $10,000 by a lawyer, Blackley turned up at Moss Vale Local Court unrepresented last week.

When the hearing began, Blackley registered a plea of not guilty. He was then informed by the magistrate that the solicitor representing Transport for NSW would like to speak with him outside the court room.

Blackley said he was told by the solicitor that if he continued with his not guilty plea then he would be potentially liable for court costs on top of the fine. 

The solicitor also informed Blackley that he had an enlarged photo showing the alleged offence, which he would present in court.

“[The solicitor] agreed the photos were not clear and then provided an ultra close up of my passenger, claiming in his view the seatbelt was not fitted correctly,” Blackley said.

While he was not at all convinced by the previously unseen enlarged photo, Blackley said he decided to change his plea to guilty to avoid paying an unknown amount of court costs and the time-consuming process of having to attend court again.

He was ultimately given a fine of around $400 by the magistrate, the same penalty as his alleged seatbelt offence.

‘Ghost’ seatbelts lead to high-vis solution

Meanwhile, some drivers are resorting to extreme methods to avoid being pinged with seatbelt offences.

Sydney woman Anna, who asked for her name be withheld, has been hit with two seatbelt fines, one in October last year, and the other in May this year.

“In both cases, I was 100 percent wearing my seatbelt correctly, but the camera images are so overexposed,” she said.

In fact, in one of the photos provided by Revenue NSW, the bottom half of the Anna’s seatbelt appears to be clearly strapped in, while the shoulder portion is nowhere to be seen.

A photo provided by Revenue NSW showing Anna’s alleged seatbelt offence (right) and the high-vis seatbelt covers she has installed in her car (left). Revenue NSW/supplied

Anna said she was at a complete loss to explain the disappearing seatbelt strap.

“It’s like the belt has just been ghosted from the photo. I feel like I’ve been framed,” Anna said.

Terrified of getting more seatbelt fines, Anna said she had taken to wearing hi-vis seatbelt covers.

Anna is now facing the loss of her driver’s licence due to the combined six demerit points from both fines, and said she had elected to contest them in court.

“It freaks me out, because I know I was wearing it right, and the fact that they have fined me for something I never did is actually really awful,” she said.

“Not to mention they are robbing me of my points, and I need my licence for work, so I’m screwed.”

So far this year, Revenue NSW has issued more than 70,000 penalty notices for seatbelt offences – generating $60 million in revenue.

NSW Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said the state’s seatbelt detection camera program was about saving lives, not revenue raising.

“Between 2021 and 2025, preliminary data shows 162 people died on NSW roads while not wearing an available seatbelt, including 29 lives lost in 2025 alone,” Aitchison said.

A spokesperson for Revenue NSW said: “Images identified by the detection system as potentially showing a driver or passenger not wearing a seatbelt properly are reviewed by an authorised individual at Transport for NSW and Revenue NSW for adjudication.

“Individuals who believe a fine has been issued incorrectly, or who would like additional circumstances considered, are encouraged to request a review through Revenue NSW.”