The Queensland government has reportedly issued nearly $18 million in fines to drivers across the state in the first two months as hidden cameras caught people using mobile phones while driving and not wearing seatbelts.
ABC confirms that The fine for just touching a mobile phone while driving will cost you a whopping $1,033 as well as four demerit points.
ABC further confirms that in November and December last year, 20,646 fines were given out. 14,856 fines were handed out to people using their mobile phones while driving and 5,760 fines were handed out to people for seatbelt offenses.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey described the situation as “pretty shocking.” He said, “It is a bit horrifying because, for every single person there that’s looking at their mobile phone, if a child runs in front of them, something happens that they didn’t predict, they’re just not ready for, then there’s a tragedy about to happen.”
He further said, “we are unashamed about the $1,000 fine for driving distracted, we know it’s exactly the same as driving drunk on the road, the same risk for people.
“If they don’t get the message because they care about other people, then they’re going to get the message because it’s going to hurt the wallet and that’s what it’s designed to do.”
Because of this, Mr. Bailey revealed that they will be installing even more of the cameras in various locations. “We’re not releasing how many cameras, but I can say quite openly, there will be a lot of cameras, adding to the numbers that we’ve got out there at the moment,” he quipped.
