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In the last half-year, drivers in Western Australia have received over 54,000 penalties for either not wearing seatbelts or wearing them incorrectly.
These violations were detected by AI-powered cameras, which have generated close to $10 million in fines since their official implementation in October.
One individual affected by these penalties is Perth resident, Steven Shaw.
Between December and January, his passenger was captured by AI cameras improperly wearing a seatbelt on four separate occasions while traveling on the freeway.
“It’s challenging to maintain safety at 100 km/h on the freeway without risking an accident to check a passenger’s seatbelt,” Shaw explained to 9News.
But, as the driver, he was hit with more than $2000 in fines and 20 demerits, starting a four-month battle and putting his livelihood at stake.
“There was two or three weeks where I didn’t know if I’d lost my licence, I was in limbo and my wife driving much of the time,” Shaw said.
Shaw challenged his infringements, with the Department of Transport withdrawing all but the first one, which he’ll contest in court.
The father is one of 2800 drivers who’ve successfully appealed their infringement notices, wiping $2.2 million in fines.
“AI cameras in my opinion are not suitable for this form of infringement, they are for speeding and phones,” Shaw said.
WA Premier Roger Cook said it’s not the AI cameras’ fault but that the driver gets clocked multiple times in a short window.
“People are often getting penalised once, twice or three times before they’re even aware that a fine has been raised in their name,” Cook said.
Despite the AI camera backlash, the WA government plans to roll out even more within the next six months.
The opposition says the government needs to iron out the issues before launching more.
“The government haven’t gotten it right,” Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said.
“It needs to be tweaked and they need to get it right before more fines are issued.”
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