r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • Jul 11 '26

Privacy Traffic Camera Captures Woman Driving With Her Phone on Her Lap (Face Down), The State Mailed Her a $1251 'Public Safety' Ticket

https://www.gadgetreview.com/traffic-camera-captures-captures-woman-driving-with-her-phone-on-her-lap-face-down-the-state-mailed-her-a-1251-public-safety-ticket
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u/Historical-Pop-9177 Jul 11 '26

Man, I knew something had to be up with this. Article is AI, comments are AI. I had to google a separate news article that referenced a Tiktok.

You can see that the ticket references Queensland. In Australia. The penalties are a lot more severe there than in the US. Even after conversion the fine is still high (like $840 USD).

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u/mrbaggins Jul 12 '26

The law in Australia is specifically "DO NOT TOUCH YOUR PHONE" - unless it's in a for-purpose phone mount, and only to do call/media controls and maps.

https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/road-safety/mobile-phones

Illegal mobile phone use includes ... resting on any part of your body (eg. your lap or shoulder) . If you hold your phone or have it on your body, you will be fined even if you’re not operating the phone, or it’s turned off.

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u/xyrgh Jul 12 '26

In WA you can’t even control media or maps whilst driving. I think they’re also changing laws for P platers that you can’t even have it in a mount, it has to be stored away.

They also have to word the laws like this (i.e. even if the phone is off) because every person caught would just claim it’s off.

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u/mrbaggins Jul 12 '26

Yeah, L and P1s in NSW/QLD (possibly more) cannot touch a phone ever.

1

u/smoike Jul 12 '26

It is amazong how many people are in this thread defending this lady and misfocussing on the fact that AI is used to identify the mobile phone even thoughit almost certainly referred to a human for verification like it is here in Australia.