Contesting a Seat Belt Fine: Lap Belt Use in Queensland

bennarra on 26/08/2025 - 11:38
Last edited 26/08/2025 - 12:40 by 2 other users

Hi !
Just like to get advices on contesting a seat belt fine, in queensland .
Basically, got a fine for someone on my car not wearing seatbelt.

In fact it s impossible to spot in on camera.
Inm driving an old Toyota hiace (registered in queensland), and the middle seat belt is only a lap belt .

So i already appeal, and i ve been told, the fine will stay as they can not see the seat belt over the torso, which in fact it s not possible due to the lap belt…

So i m looking for advice or where to appeal again, as it seems they just do not understand my point

After cherching researching online, its clear, lap belt are legal in queensland if its an old vehicle…

So just not sure what/where / who , i need to do / ask…

Thanks everyone !

Automotive Toyota Van

Comments

  • Hybroid on 26/08/2025 - 11:50
    +15

    Generally there's an option to go to court and plead your case.

  • rawm on 26/08/2025 - 11:52
    +38

    Yep - QLD law allows lap-only belts in older vehicles, so you’re right. If the fine was issued because the camera couldn’t see it, your best bet is either:

    • Take it to Magistrates' Court with photos showing the lap belt and proof it’s legal, or
    • Submit another appeal to TMR (Transport and Main Roads QLD) with photos and reference the rule that lap belts are allowed in older vehicles.

    Godspeed and good luck.

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 26/08/2025 - 12:22
      -3

      i am actually really surprised lap belt was not visible…

      • Euphemistic on 26/08/2025 - 13:45
        +3

        If the person was large, maybe the belt was hiding?

      • AnotherRedLight on 27/08/2025 - 11:08
        +2

        OP isn't saying the lap belt isn't visible, they are saying they are being fined for no belt around the TORSO.

        Which isn't possible to be visible because it doesn't exist.

        • Jimothy Wongingtons on 27/08/2025 - 11:28
          +1

          Thanks I get it now… well I guess they do need to go court

      • ColtNoir on 27/08/2025 - 13:17

        ‘Not visible across the torso’? I do hope this was sarcasm

  • MS Paint on 26/08/2025 - 12:14
    +10

    get advices

    The gift that keeps on giving. FFS.

    • Stealtho on 26/08/2025 - 12:22
      +8

      you the grammar police lol

      • jv on 26/08/2025 - 13:53
        -1

        Yes, they are…

      • MS Paint on 26/08/2025 - 14:44
        +2

        Never take grammar advice from ozbargain.

        Am I doing this right?

        • BOGOF on 26/08/2025 - 14:50
          +4

          That makes present tense, cheers.

    • NanoDuke on 27/08/2025 - 08:12

      Don't laugh at people that struggle with English as a second language..
      At least they're trying.

      • MS Paint on 27/08/2025 - 09:28
        +3

        How do you know English is a second language to OP?

        • zfind on 28/08/2025 - 08:48
          +2

          It’s pretty evident from how they write:

          “Get advices”
          “Someone on my car” - incorrect preposition
          “Cherching” followed by “researching” - recherche is “research” in French.

          Not to insult the OP as English is a difficult and dumb language but no native speaking adult is going to write with that many spelling / punctuation / grammar mistakes (unless they’re drunk).

          I’d guess OP is a French backpacker with an old van. The writing sounds a little to me how French can sound when speaking English.

      • [Deactivated] on 27/08/2025 - 15:46

        lol English as a second language

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md_WfmSYAuQ

    • Muppet Detector on 29/08/2025 - 16:57

      Meh, he was covering all bases by including both the c and the s.

  • 7ekn00 on 26/08/2025 - 12:19
    +6

    for someone on my car not wearing seatbelt.

    Makes sense, there are no seatbelts on the roof … just argue where they were seated had no option for a belt :P

    • freeb1e4me on 26/08/2025 - 12:22
      +1

      Hahaha

    • GordonD on 26/08/2025 - 15:12

      there are no seatbelts on the roof

      My car has the sash of the middle belt in the rear attached to the roof to allow 3 passengers in the rear. Where else would they attach it?

      (Actually its really stupid they do. Because given its a small hatchback it means to fit 3 in the rear the rear they have to be midgets in terms of both their leg length and their shoulder width.)

      • tenpercent on 27/08/2025 - 11:31

        they have to be midgets in terms of both their leg length and their shoulder width

        Or children?

  • Bargainitis on 26/08/2025 - 13:21
    -1

    quick question.

    Is "Chercking" meant to be "searching" or "checking"?

    :D

  • oooooooo ahhhhhhh on 26/08/2025 - 13:36
    +4

    Pics please!

  • pegaxs on 26/08/2025 - 13:59
    +1

    advices

    Well, that's a new one…

    If the vehicle is of an age where a lap sash belt was fitted as standard, 100% take it to court with proof that it is only a lap sash and that it can only be worn that way. You can't wear a lap sash belt over the shoulder.

    If it is not of an age that it was fitted with this kind of belt, or it is not engineered to have this kind of belt, or the belt was fitted "aftermarket", eat the fine and stop letting people ride with a seatbelt that isn't up to standard.

  • 30year old Camry on 26/08/2025 - 14:47
    +1

    Just send them a MS Paint diagram

    • IpGem on 27/08/2025 - 20:09

      An MS Paint.. just for your attention @MS Paint

  • GordonD on 26/08/2025 - 15:07
    +2

    Did you get an image? Post it.

  • GordonD on 26/08/2025 - 15:48
    +2

    I suspect there's a misunderstanding about what the word "torso" means that is resulting in the OP thinking he has been booked for something different to what he has been.

    The torso is the whole trunk of the body. Everything minus the head and neck at the top, the arms at the side, and the legs. It doesn't stop at the waist, it goes right down to the crotch.

    The OP thinks he's been wrongfully booked for the centre passenger not wearing the sash part of a seatbelt across their UPPER torso, when the centre belt in that car doesn't have one, so it isn't required. TMR knows that. What he's actually been booked for, and his appeal knocked back because of, is that the camera's image doesn't show any lap belt across that centre passenger's LOWER torso.

    They're trying to tell him that but he and they have a different understanding of what "torso" means.

    • SlickMick on 27/08/2025 - 09:01
      +1

      That's what I presumed too

    • tenpercent on 27/08/2025 - 11:33
      +3

      What he's actually been booked for, and his appeal knocked back because of, is that the camera's image doesn't show any lap belt across that centre passenger's LOWER torso.

      Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence.

      • GordonD on 27/08/2025 - 11:38
        +2

        That's why I used the words I did. That the "camera's image doesn't show any lap belt".

  • jizmo on 26/08/2025 - 16:31
    -5

    It's probably an IA auto generated fine, and the idiot of many that work for the government, who couldn't hold a job in the private sector because they're useless, has told you to just pay it because their lunch break starts in 2 minutes.

    • Domingo on 26/08/2025 - 19:14
      +1

      This is probably an "IA auto generated" comment

  • AndyC1 on 26/08/2025 - 19:37

    Print the photo evidence on A3 at office works and see if you agree or disagree with the appeal result. If you disagree then go to court and take the A3 printout along with other print outs that highlight the area where the two outside people are wearing the seat belt and another one indicating that the middle person shown has a lap seat belt and this cannot be seen in the photo due the angle of the photo.

    Do NOT give the police or government any advance info as to what you will be presenting, apart form the photo evidence as supplied by them otherwise they will possible string you along and drop the fine the day before.

    • tenpercent on 27/08/2025 - 11:37
      +3

      Wouldn't them dropping the fine before going to court be better than appearing and then possibly losing just because the magistrate goes to the same yacht club as the police legal counsel and they owe them one, or because they had a fight with his wife/husband the night before and is in a cranky mood?

  • brad1-8tsi on 27/08/2025 - 07:19
    +1

    see a lawyer. Take it to court.

    Don't try and represent yourself as it's all about keeping your mates in a job.

  • Nalar on 27/08/2025 - 11:11
    +4

    Show us the photo!

  • tenpercent on 27/08/2025 - 11:39
    +1

    Recreate the image with the same person sitting in the centre. Try to get your camera at the same angle as the photo they offered as "evidence". Take a video starting from that same angle with the belt not visible and then slowly move the camera down to a different angle where the seat belt becomes visible. I.e. try to demonstrate it is the angle of their camera that has failed to show the belt, not the absence of the belt.

    • [Deactivated] on 27/08/2025 - 15:48
      +1

      but this time flip them off

  • Morggg on 27/08/2025 - 16:41
    +2

    So, was he wearing the seatbelt or not?

  • Mrgreenz on 27/08/2025 - 21:53

    Wear lap belt over torso.

    Get into a wreck.

    Sue the government for damages for your back pain.

  • TightAl on 27/08/2025 - 22:43

    Where's the photo

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join