Save time, take courage: cameras are starting to require you to wear seat belts

After months of testing, existing mobile and fixed cameras positioned across the NSW road network are ready to catch drivers and passengers flouting the 50-year-old seatbelt law.

Although the vast majority of NSW's 6.9 million drivers and their passengers wear their seat belts correctly on every journey, a small percentage still refuse to obey the law.

Not wearing a seat belt has been shown to double the risk of death in a crash.

Drivers are reminded that there will be no grace period for warning letters for seat belt violations, with fines in place from day one, as the Nova Scotia government South Wales continues to add new measures to tackle road deaths.

Fines of up to $410 and at least three demerit points will be issued starting Monday to drivers or passengers caught on camera not wearing their seatbelts or not wearing them properly. Every dollar raised through seatbelt cameras will go to road safety.

Data shows that 150 people died while not wearing a seat belt in the five years between 2019 and 2023.

On average, 15 per cent of annual deaths on NSW roads still involve people not wearing seat belts.

To help communicate the change, the NSW Government launched a new advertising campaign on May 19 on radio, television and social media, showing the correct way to wear a seat belt and reminding to drivers that the cameras will be turned on for control from July 1st. This campaign and images of the offenses can be viewed here.

The implementation of the camera-based seatbelt enforcement will be closely monitored by Transport for NSW and Revenue NSW staff as the program is rolled out over the coming months. This will include daily monitoring to ensure that if any issues arise, they are quickly identified and addressed.

Safety belt camera enforcement follows a series of new road safety measures introduced by the NSW Government, including:

• Closing a loophole requiring all motorists driving with a foreign license to switch to a New South Wales license within six months
• The demerit points refund trial rewarded more than 1.2 million drivers for maintaining a clean driving record during the initial 12-month period until January 16, 2024
• Doubling of the number of road control sites used for mobile radars, with the addition of 2,700 new locations where a radar can be deployed. Control times will remain the same
• Host the first national road safety forum bringing together international and local experts

Roads Minister John Graham said:

For the vast majority of the 6.9 million drivers on NSW roads, it seems unthinkable that some drivers still fail to make the simplest and safest decision when getting into a car: putting on a seatbelt.

The fact is, five decades after this law came into effect, people are still dying as a direct result of not wearing seat belts.

It's horrifying to think that 15 per cent of all road deaths in New South Wales are caused by someone not wearing their seat belt.

Seat belt cameras will help us get the message across to these drivers.

The world's first cell phone detection cameras were very successful in changing this behavior, and we hope seat belt cameras will do the same.

Regional Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison said:

The goal is simple: make sure everyone wears their seat belt properly. It's not just about following the rules, it's about protecting ourselves and each other.

We know that although rural residents make up only a third of the NSW population, two thirds of all deaths occur on rural roads. That’s why wearing a seatbelt correctly is a simple but extremely important step regional drivers should take.

Seat belt rules have been in place for over 50 years, but we still see lives lost every year because people don’t take the simple step of buckling up before driving. These cameras won’t just be in cities, starting July 1, they’ll be active regionally and will also help enforce the rules and keep regional drivers safe.

I urge everyone to make sure they wear their seat belts correctly on every trip and help keep everyone safe on the road.