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The grace period for Perth’s new road safety cameras has ended, with police issuing fines from Wednesday.
The six portable AI-powered cameras can detect when a person is speeding, not wearing a seatbelt or using their mobile phone. There are also fixed-point cameras on the Kwinana Freeway near Salter Point and South Perth.
Images of WA drivers show some of the shocking behaviour caught since January.Credit: Road Safety Commission
During the trial period, more than 380,000 offences were detected and 65,000 cautions issued, with Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby raising concerns about risky driver behaviour.
That trial period, which had been running since the Australia Day long weekend, also captured 20,000 people not wearing their seatbelts correctly – including 6000 with no seatbelts at all.
An additional 12,000 had their phones resting on their body – also a finable offence.
Drivers can now be fined $1000 and lose four demerit points for illegal phone use while driving.
At the time, WA Road Safety Commissioner Adrian Warner said the images captured during the trial were “truly disturbing and upsetting”, with drivers snapped with children and babies unrestrained in the front seat and some even spotted using laptops while driving.
“If we were monitoring every road, the number would be frankly staggering. The level of risk taking around mobile phones and distraction is extreme,” Warner said.
“But the images that really, really shocked me, and quite frankly disturbed me, I’ve had a really visceral reaction, relate to … unrestrained children.
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“Please think again, the power to reduce the road toll lies in all our hands.”
This year has been a horrific one on WA roads.
Just last week, Perth’s car community mourned the loss of 60-year-old Johnny Gray, whose 1956 Chevrolet was destroyed in a crash on the Mitchell Freeway in the city’s north.
Main Roads is now investigating the intersection near where Gray crashed, with locals raising concerns about how easy it is for drivers to get turned around and head the wrong way down the freeway.
And on Monday, two motorbike riders were travelling along Albany Highway when one left the road and struck a power pole. He later died in hospital.
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