New South Wales only switched on its seatbelt detection cameras a month ago, but the road safety devices are already uncovering potentially deadly behaviours.
Between July 1 and July 21, more than 11,400 penalties were issued by seatbelt detection cameras in New South Wales, with the state’s transport department saying approximately three-quarters of all infringements were related to incorrect seatbelt use.
For context, New South Wales Police issued fewer seatbelt-related fines throughout the whole of 2023 than what the cameras picked up in just three weeks.
If the current rate of infringements detected continues, the New South Wales Government estimates more than 100,000 seatbelt fines will be issued in the first 12 months of the cameras coming online.
According to the State Government, incidents detected by the cameras include “babies being held and fed in the front seat completely unrestrained, multiple children unrestrained sharing the front seat with adults and a variety of ways in which a seatbelt can be worn incorrectly.”
The 11,400 penalties were issued from 8.3 million vehicles being detected by the cameras, representing one in every 700 motorists being caught doing the wrong thing.
While this works out to be just 0.14 per cent of motorists travelling in the state, approximately 15 per cent of all road fatalities in New South Wales between 2019 and 2023 were vehicle occupants not wearing seatbelts.
The New South Wales Government also noted the rate of seatbelt non-compliance was about 250 per cent higher than expected prior to its mobile phone detection camera network detecting the infractions.
“I’m surprised the numbers are so high,” said New South Wales Roads Minister, John Graham.
“We knew there was a problem with seatbelt compliance among a small section of motorists and passengers, but the reality is it is worse than expected and we need this to serve as a wake up call.
“I want to send the strongest message possible today that if you don’t do it to save yourself a $410 fine and three demerit points, do it for the safety of your loved ones by buckling up every time, and make sure everyone in the car does too.
“The vast majority of the 6.9 million drivers on NSW roads wear a seatbelt every time, but the sad fact is that the small percentage of those who do not are twice as likely to die in a crash and are needlessly making up 15 per cent of all fatalities on our roads.
“We have a rising road toll in NSW and the straightforward act of putting a seatbelt on could save dozens of lives a year.”
New South Wales is the latest Australian state to launch seatbelt detection cameras, following Queensland in August 2021, Victoria in April 2023 and Tasmania in August 2023.
The introduction of the technology comes amid a rise in the New South Wales road toll, which stands at 358 deaths in the 12 months prior to July 2024, a 23 per cent increase on the same period last year.
This is despite the state wiping one demerit point from the records of 1.2 million motorists to incentivise road users who avoided further infringements across a trial period that ran from January 2023 to 2024.
In May, the New South Wales Government announced it would soon make an additional 2700 mobile speed camera sites available for operators to set up at and detect speeding drivers – approximately double the current number of locations available to them.
MORE: More speed camera sites, seatbelt detection tech coming to Australian state
