{"id":40835,"date":"2026-09-15T12:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T02:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=40835"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T02:01:41","slug":"seatbelt-education-urgently-needed-as-fines-alone-wont-save-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/seatbelt-education-urgently-needed-as-fines-alone-wont-save-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Seatbelt education urgently needed as fines alone won\u2019t save lives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">New figures have revealed seatbelt fines surged by 2,357 per cent in just one year, with the NSW Liberals and Nationals calling for an immediate public education campaign.<br><br>A staggering 132,755 seatbelt fines were issued in 2024\u201325 following the introduction of AI-powered detection cameras. Concerningly, more than one in ten fines were issued for failing to wear a seatbelt at all.<br><br>Despite the huge increase in fines, the latest Transport for NSW figures show:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>12,157 people were seriously injured during 2025, an increase of 598, or 5.2 per cent, from 11,559 in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>244 lives have been lost on NSW roads in 2026, compared with 240 at the same time last year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shadow Minister for Roads Mark Coure said enforcement must be supported by clear and practical education.<br><br>\u201cThese figures show that current deterrence measures are not enough to improve road safety,\u201d Mr Coure said.<br><br>\u201cCameras can detect an offence and issue a fine, but the evidence is showing it is not addressing the cause and changing behaviour.\u201d<br><br>\u201cThe Minns Labor Government must back current deterrent measures with a comprehensive education campaign, which the NRMA is also calling for &#8211; with targeted information for passengers, parents, pregnant women and culturally diverse communities.\u201d<br><br>\u201cTwo-thirds of the offences reportedly involved passengers, demonstrating that the Government\u2019s message is simply not reaching the broader community.\u201d<br><br>\u201cWith the NSW road toll remaining unacceptably high, fines alone are not a road safety strategy. Education and enforcement must work together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New figures have revealed seatbelt fines surged by 2,357 per cent in just one year, with the NSW Liberals and Nationals calling for an immediate public education campaign. A staggering 132,755 seatbelt fines were issued in 2024\u201325 following the introduction of AI-powered detection cameras. Concerningly, more than one in ten fines were issued for failing &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/seatbelt-education-urgently-needed-as-fines-alone-wont-save-lives\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Seatbelt education urgently needed as fines alone won\u2019t save lives&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40836,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40835\/revisions\/40836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}