Furious driver fined $1,033 for using mobile phone – but says it’s just a shadow in her lap
- New South Wales woman Tracey says she was falsely paid $1,033 for driving with her phone
- A traffic camera caught her driving from Noosa to Brisbane in January
- The camera caught her with three shadows on her lap, one of which is believed to be a phone
- She said the shadow was too long and thin to be considered a cell phone
- She said a friend was in the car giving directions while her phone was put away
A frustrated female driver claims she was wrongly fined $1,033 for using her phone while driving because the traffic camera mistook a shadow on her lap for her cellphone.
NSW woman Tracey, 33, was driving from Noosa to Brisbane in January when she was photographed by the camera.
She only found the offense notice, where she also received four demerit points, on Tuesday after returning from a trip abroad, and said she thought there must be a typo”.
“When I opened it and saw the amount, before I even saw what it was for, I almost had a little heart attack,” she said. Yahoo News.
“The evidence they provided was a photo of me driving with both hands on the wheel and three shadows on my body, which led them to conclude that at least one of them was a phone.”
Tracey, a NSW woman (pictured driving, left), said she was fined $1,000 for using her phone after claiming a traffic camera mistook a shadow on her lap for a mobile phone .
Tracey said the size of the shadow didn’t match the shape of her phone and the traffic camera photo provided showed both of her hands on the steering wheel (above)
Tracey said she was traveling with a friend at the time and claims the passenger was using his cell phone to navigate while his phone was “either in the center console or in my bag”.
She also argued that the size and length of the shadow didn’t match the shape of her phone and that the photo shows her two hands on the steering wheel.
“I’m a bit in shock,” Tracey wrote on Facebook.
“I would like to challenge this because the photo is based on shadows, not actual images from a phone.
“Would that also mean I had three phones on me because there were three shadows?”
Commenters on the post agreed with Tracey that the “phone” in the photo looked like a shadow.
The 33-year-old now hopes she can receive more conclusive footage to prove she didn’t have her phone on her.
After sharing the fine (above) online, commenters told Tracey not to pay the fine and to challenge the photo evidence in court
“We were eating snacks at the time, so I think it was a chocolate slate, but with black and white you can’t tell the color of the wrapper,” she told the publication.
Those wishing to dispute a fine can view a high resolution image online or take the matter to court.
According to the Queensland government, it is illegal to “hold a mobile phone in your hand or rest it on any part of your body, such as your lap, while driving”. This applies even if you are stopped in traffic.
“The phone does not need to be on or in use for this to be an offence.”
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