More than 31,000 infringements have been issued from the first month of operation of Western Australia’s new fixed and trailer-mounted safety cameras.
Between October 8 and November 8, more than 31,855 infringements were issued for offences including:
- 12,288 for mobile phone use;
- 10,285 for seatbelt offences; and
- 9,282 for speeding offences.
A high number of infringements were issued to drivers whose passenger was incorrectly wearing a seatbelt.
Touching or holding a mobile phone while driving carries a minimum $500 fine and three demerit points, while penalties for failing to wear a seatbelt correctly start at $550 and four demerit points.
According to the WA Government, the AI-powered safety cameras have allegedly revealed some disturbing insights into driver behaviour, including:
- a truck driver with no hands on the steering wheel, operating a laptop computer, using a mobile phone, and not wearing a seatbelt while driving 100km/h on the Mitchell Freeway;
- a front seat passenger wearing no seatbelt, cradling an unrestrained baby; and
- a driver with no hands on the steering wheel, using a mobile phone, driving 20km/h over the limit in a school zone.
Infringements began on October 8 following an extensive eight-month awareness and education period in which no fines were issued.
During that period, more than 380,000 offences were detected, with more than 65,000 caution notices issued.
“The purpose of the caution notice period was to allow drivers to adjust their behaviour without immediate fines and demerits, while educating and building awareness of the new technology,” the state government said.
The safety camera program is funded through the Road Trauma Trust Account, which sees 100 per cent of safety camera infringements allocated to projects and programs which reduce injuries and deaths on WA roads.
The Cook government said it now invest another $20 million to expand the safety camera program including six new safety camera trailers, four pairs of fixed point to point cameras, 32 near miss cameras and 100 smiley face cameras with a focus on school zones.