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Reading a book, breastfeeding a baby and holding a beer – often while holding a mobile phone or not wearing a seatbelt.
These are just some of the latest infringements picked up by Western Australia’s new AI road safety cameras.
During a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday morning, Police and Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby said since February 2025, when the cameras had first been installed, seat belt offences had declined by 86 per cent, mobile phone offences had declined by 88 per cent and speeding by 51 per cent.
Fines have been issued from alleged traffic breaches caught by the cameras since October.
“We’ve had massive behaviour change, but we’re still seeing extraordinary things happen behind the wheel,” he said.
“This is an admission I have to unfortunately make – there is a hard core of drivers that still insist on doing the wrong thing in a quite sensational, dangerous way.”
Whitby then produced six “shocking” images taken by the cameras, which he said showcased the worst of WA driver behaviour.
The first picture showed a driver holding their phone while reading a book on their Kindle. They also were not wearing a seatbelt.
“This next one, check out this guy, super relaxed, he doesn’t appear to be wearing a seat belt, he has his foot up on the dashboard, and he’s using the mobile phone,” Whitby said while holding the next photograph.
“He looks like he’s in his lounge room at home with his feet up on the couch watching Netflix, I mean, for goodness’ sake.”
The next picture showed a woman breastfeeding her baby while holding the steering wheel with the back of her hand and her right knee.
“That is insane,” Whitby said.
“Who would do that? After all the publicity about fines and demerits, after the warnings, this is still happening. This is why we can’t give up, and we’ve got to keep going.
“This is why the safety cameras are out there. This is why we need to do this.”
Other photographs shown included one of a person driving with a dog on their lap while holding their phone, and one of a person with a stubby of Swan Draught between his legs, also with his phone in hand.
“This is what we’re seeing still, recently captured by safety cameras, so we want to see far less of those incidents,” Whitby said.
“It’s a concern of mine that we have a stubborn small number of offenders who continue to offend to an extreme level, and we need to make sure they change behaviour because their lives are at risk.”
In April it was revealed that more AI cameras were on the way for WA, as figures showed nearly 300 drivers a day were still being slapped with fines for not wearing a seatbelt.
In total, 53,000 seatbelt fines were issued in the first six months.
Holly Thompson is a journalist with WAtoday, specialising in education and the environment.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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