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February 26, 2026 \u2014 11:50am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n West Australian drivers are voicing their frustrations at new AI-powered cameras set up to detect poor behaviour across the metropolitan area, with some claiming they had lost their licence over small mistakes without being given the chance to correct them.<\/p>\n One driver, Tom, called into ABC Radio on Thursday morning and said he had received seven fines in the mail all in one day, for driving while his seatbelt was tucked under his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cYou may not have sympathy for that, but the thing that I think is unfair about that is if you\u2019ve been picked up by a cop first time, you might have said, \u2018Obviously, I\u2019ve got an issue here\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not doing this deliberately, but I\u2019ve obviously got a habit that I\u2019ve got into. I\u2019ll fix it. I\u2019ll pay the fine this time and remedy it.<\/p>\n \u201cNow I\u2019m going to lose my license \u2013 there\u2019s four [demerit] points for each those fines and there\u2019s probably more to come because I wasn\u2019t aware until the 19th that I was doing this.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd at $500 times seven, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s proportionate to what the actual offence is.\u201d<\/p>\n Another caller, Janine, told the ABC she was pinged twice two days over the holiday period for the same offence.<\/p>\n She said her daughter, who was neurodivergent, had been a passenger in the car and hadn\u2019t been wearing her seatbelt properly.<\/p>\n \u201cI am looking at the road. I\u2019ve tried to do the right thing, I\u2019ve had the right conversations, and I checked her as we were leaving, but I was focused on the road,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve gone from [having lost] zero demerit points to losing my license, and I\u2019m the only one working in the family at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Police Commissioner Col Blanch said every driver had a right to dispute the fines.<\/p>\n \u201cSpeed cameras have been out there for a long time, but AI cameras are new, and I suspect as those agencies move forward with these cameras, they will come up with ways to ensure that people aren\u2019t fined incorrectly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everything is a case by case basis. It\u2019s a really hard one to answer. There are genuine cases.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, we know people have medical certificates that do allow them to not wear a seat belt in certain circumstances, so those ones will always be difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the team that do run this process need to know that there will be exemptions from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n In December, the state government announced it had dished out $13 million in fines in just one month.<\/p>\n Some of the worst behaviour captured between October 8 and November 8 included a truck driver driving along Mitchell Freeway with no hands on the wheel, using his laptop and mobile phone while not wearing a seatbelt.<\/p>\n Another driver was caught wearing no seatbelt while cradling an unrestrained baby, while another was caught driving 20 kilometres over the speed limit in a school zone while using a mobile phone with no hands on the wheel.<\/p>\n Related Video<\/p>\n \u201cThis is madness behind the wheel. Some of these photos are quite shocking when you see them, and we don\u2019t want drivers doing these things,\u201d Police Minister Reece Whitby said at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for seat belts, that\u2019s a big shock for me to have so many people offending in terms of not wearing a seat belt or not wearing it properly, 50 years after these laws were introduced for front-seat passengers in Australia is beyond mind-boggling.\u201d<\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/706cd438be75b9c366368413f9646cd8a6772f41276bfdab4e74ce77f9fb08ea.jpeg\")
New AI safety camera pictures have caught WA drivers up to some strange things while behind the wheel. But some who have been caught say their fines have been excessive, or wrong entirely. <\/p>\n![\"Clipping](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/b914776ec9d3860ac1fe3af0a1c5e40a70c235e9c8656df2589fac975e1ab87b.jpeg\")
Clipping your nails while driving is frowned upon.<\/p>\n![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/de0f50dbf4623fbf3c2633a97e3be9a6a96320c1cd56efd37e6902ac59d41f04.jpeg\")
On truck driver was spotted talking on the phone and using a laptop \u2013 while driving at the same time.<\/p>\n![\"Holly](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/3a21ade19e83efa5d41c479a92cf48548b357bb6.png\")
Holly Thompson<\/a> is a journalist with WAtoday, specialising in education and the environment.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 26, 2026 \u2014 11:50am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-505830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}