Posted: 17:37, July 16, 2022 | Updated: 18:01, July 16, 2022
A frustrated driver claims she was unfairly fined $1,033 for using her phone while behind the wheel after a traffic camera mistook a shadow on her lap for her cellphone. New South Wales woman Tracey, 33, was driving from Noosa to Brisbane in January when she was caught on camera. She found the infringement notice, where she also received four demerit points, on Tuesday after returning from an overseas trip and said she thought there must have been a “typographical error”. “When I opened it and saw the amount, before I even saw what it was, I almost had a little heart attack,” he told Yahoo News. “The evidence they gave was a photo of me driving with two hands on the wheel and three shadows on my body, which led them to conclude that at least one of them was a phone.” New Wales woman Tracey (pictured driving, left) said she was fined $1,000 for using her phone after she claimed a traffic camera mistook a shadow on her lap for a mobile phone Tracey said the size of the shade didn’t match the shape of her phone and the provided dash cam photo showed both hands on the wheel (above) Tracey said she was traveling with a friend at the time and claims the passenger was using his mobile for directions while her phone was “either in the middle of the console or in my bag”. She also claimed that the size and length of the shade did not match the shape of her phone and the photo shows both of her hands on the steering wheel. “I’m in a bit of shock,” Tracey wrote on Facebook. “I’d like to question that, as the photo is based on shadows, not the actual hardware of a phone. “Also would that mean I had three phones on me as 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 is now hoping to be provided with more definitive material to prove she did not have her phone. After sharing the fine (above) online, commenters told Tracey not to pay the fine and challenge the photographic evidence in court “We were snacking at the time so I think it was a chocolate bar, but in black and white you can’t tell the color of the wrapper,” he told the publication. Those who want to challenge a fine can view a high-resolution image online or go 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 in your lap, when you are driving”. This is true even if you are stopped in traffic. “The phone doesn’t have to be on or in use to be illegal.”
