Mobile phone detection cameras have started enforcing seatbelt offences in New South Wales, with fines of up to $410 and at least three demerits to be issued to drivers if they – or their passengers – do not comply with seatbelt laws.
Existing mobile and stationary cameras throughout the NSW road network are ready to catch drivers and passengers if they do not follow the state’s 50-year-old seatbelt laws.
There will be no grace period for the new regulations, with fines set to be issued to those breaking the rules from the first day of the cameras’ implementation, which started on Monday, July 1.
Seatbelt enforcement by cameras is the latest of a string of new road safety measures implemented by the NSW government, including:
- Removing a loophole to force all motorists driving on a foreign licence to convert to a NSW licence within six months.
- The demerit return trial that rewarded more than 1.2 million drivers for maintaining a spotless driving record during the initial 12-month period up to January 16, 2024.
- Doubling roadside enforcement sites used for mobile speed cameras, with the addition of 2700 new locations where a camera can be deployed. Enforcement hours will remain the same.
- Hosting the state’s first Road Safety Forum of international and local experts.
Minister for Roads John Graham says the cameras’ new abilities will help ensure the roads are safe every road user in the state.
“To the vast majority of the 6.9 million drivers on NSW roads it will seem unthinkable that some fellow drivers still do not make the simple and safest decision when getting in a car, putting on a seatbelt.
“The fact is that five decades since it became law, there are still people dying as a direct consequence of not wearing a seatbelt.
“World-first mobile phone detection cameras have had great success in changing that behaviour, and we expect seatbelt cameras to do that same.
“Seatbelt cameras will help get the message through to these drivers.”
Minister for Regional Roads Jenny Aitchson believes the new measures will help protect New South Wales residents on some of the state’s most dangerous roads.
“We know although country residents make up only one-third of the NSW population, two thirds of all fatalities happen on country roads,” Aitchson says.
“The rules around wearing a seatbelt have been in place for 50 years, but we still see lives lost every year because people aren’t taking the simple step of buckling up before driving.
“These cameras will not just be in the city. From July 1 they will be active regionally as well.”
Data shows 150 people died in New South Wales while not wearing a seatbelt in the five years between 2019 and 2023, and 15 per cent of deaths on NSW roads still involve people not wearing a seatbelt.
Not wearing a seatbelt has been shown to double the risk of death if involved in a crash.
Every dollar raised by seatbelt cameras will go back into road safety.
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