{"id":521528,"date":"2026-03-06T02:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521528\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T02:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T02:08:12","slug":"man-wins-seatbelt-fine-court-battle-as-ai-traffic-cameras-face-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521528\/","title":{"rendered":"Man wins seatbelt fine court battle as AI traffic cameras face scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queensland magistrate’s decision to dismiss an AI-detected seatbelt fine has raised concerns that drivers across Australia may be wrongly penalised by AI-assisted road safety cameras.<\/p>\n

Most Australian states now have some form of the new camera system, which uses AI to identify potential mobile phone and seatbelt breaches, with fines then sent to drivers.<\/p>\n

Software engineer Hugo Burton, 22, received an infringement notice late last year after his passenger shifted his seatbelt underneath his arm mid-trip.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hugo Burton, 22, represented himself in court and won. (Supplied: Hugo Burton)<\/p>\n

Representing himself in court in January, Mr Burton argued it would have been infeasible and potentially unsafe to constantly monitor whether his passenger was wearing his seatbelt during the trip.<\/p>\n

In a recording of the court case obtained by the ABC, Magistrate Kerry Magee agreed.<\/p>\n

She said it was not reasonable to expect Mr Burton to keep looking across to check it was being worn properly \u2014 particularly once they got onto the M1, a freeway in Brisbane, where overhead cameras snapped the infringement.<\/p>\n

“The M1 is acknowledged by the prosecution to be a potentially dangerous road,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It does require considerable concentration to ensure that that road can be traversed safely.”<\/p>\n

\"Busy<\/p>\n

The magistrate told the court driving on the M1 required “considerable concentration”. (ABC News: Mark Leonardi)<\/p>\n

Magistrate Magee found Queensland’s Department of Transport had failed to exclude the possibility that Mr Burton “honestly and reasonably believed that his passenger was wearing a seatbelt [that was] properly adjusted and fastened”.<\/p>\n

At the end of the hearing, Mr Burton asked what would prevent him and others from being unfairly fined in the future.<\/p>\n

‘My whole licence gone’: Drivers caught unaware by AI traffic cameras<\/a><\/p>\n

Drivers given large fines or a licence suspension after their passengers were snapped wearing seatbelts incorrectly say they are being punished for behaviour beyond their control.<\/p>\n

He said the prospect of going through the whole rigmarole of fighting it in court again made him not want to drive with a passenger at all.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Magee said she could not give legal advice but noted that the prosecution would “have some difficulty” defending any case where the passenger’s seatbelt remained fastened.<\/p>\n

Drivers say system unfair, inaccurate<\/p>\n

Mr Burton told the ABC he was one of several people in court on the day battling similar AI-detected seatbelt infringements, as frustration at the new systems mounts in several states.<\/a><\/p>\n

In Western Australia, Milly Bartlett said she received an infringement notice despite the photo provided as evidence showing she was wearing her seatbelt correctly.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Milly Bartlett received a fine despite the photograph from an AI-powered camera showing her wearing her seatbelt. (Supplied: Milly Bartlett)<\/p>\n

She said strong sun reflection makes the seatbelt appear white and blend in with her top in the black-and-white image.<\/p>\n

However, the AI-detection software picked it up as a breach.<\/p>\n

“I’m so risk-averse you can see that I’m wearing long sleeves and sun gloves in my car at 6pm,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m the least likely person to be not wearing a seatbelt on the freeway.”\"A<\/p>\n

Milly Bartlett says she was also wrongly fined by the cameras. (Supplied: Milly Bartlett)<\/p>\n

Ms Bartlett, who said she had never received a demerit point in 30 years of driving, faces a $550 fine and eight demerit points \u2014 double the normal amount as the alleged infringement took place during the summer holiday period.<\/p>\n

She appealed three weeks ago and was still waiting on an outcome, but said she was not hopeful, as a friend had recently had a similar appeal rejected.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The AI-powered cameras have been installed along Perth’s freeway system. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“I get that technology is catching a lot of people doing stupid things, but clearly it is returning a hell of a lot of infringements, and they’re not being closely checked before they’re getting sent out to people,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I just resent the time and effort and energy that it’s made me waste.”<\/p>\n

Ms Bartlett said the government had made it “very difficult” for people to prove their innocence and called for a more accessible, efficient review channel, given the number of errors being made.<\/p>\n

In WA, a review of the penalty system was underway, with the Transport Minister saying late last week people could appeal the fines for “exceptional circumstances”.<\/p>\n

\"Rita<\/p>\n

Rita Saffioti is WA’s Transport Minister and Deputy Premier. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)<\/p>\n

“I’ve heard it first hand from a lot of people who have had fines from the seatbelt issue,” Rita Saffioti said.<\/p>\n

“I can understand why people are upset about receiving those fines.”Cases clog system<\/p>\n

In most jurisdictions, a person who receives a traffic infringement notice can request a review by emailing or sending a letter to the Department of Transport with “supporting documentation”.<\/p>\n

The department then investigates the request and responds with an outcome.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

There are concerns about seatbelts blending in with people’s clothing on camera. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

If it rejects the appeal, the person must either pay the fine or request a court hearing.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Avinash Singh said seatbelt infringements were creating “an unnecessary backlog” in the courts.<\/p>\n

He said the legal community was putting pressure on the department to improve its appeals process to reduce the burden.<\/p>\n

“What we found is a lot of legitimate appeals to reviews are turned down, and it actually does take getting it before a magistrate or a judge to actually have a fair hearing,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queensland magistrate’s decision to dismiss an AI-detected seatbelt fine has raised concerns that drivers across Australia may…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[115402,32107,260125,191988,260129,260130,43,44,86,260127,260126,260128,41,39,42,40,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-521528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-abc-news-perth","9":"tag-abc-news-wa","10":"tag-ai-cameras","11":"tag-ai-road-cameras","12":"tag-ai-seatbelt-cameras","13":"tag-ai-speed-cameras","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-perth-news","17":"tag-seatbelt-cameras","18":"tag-seatbelt-fine","19":"tag-speeding-fines","20":"tag-top-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topnews","23":"tag-topstories","24":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521528","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=521528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}