A 47-year-old Calwell woman had barely breathed a sigh of relief after a six-month battle to clear her name with Access Canberra when her husband was slapped with a "ridiculous" fine of his own.
On November 25 last year, the public servant received a traffic infringement notice for allegedly driving without a seatbelt. A mobile road-safety camera on the Monaro Highway in Fyshwick had captured her sedan on the morning of November 19, resulting in a $574 fine and three demerit points.
Stressing that she never drives unbuckled, the Canberra woman was left deeply shaken by the notice.
"I couldn't drive past a camera now without fear of being accused of something that isn't true," she told The Canberra Times on condition of anonymity.
Despite the stress of having a $574 fine and three demerit points hanging over their heads, the family was determined to fight it.
"I know for sure she always wears her seatbelt," her 51-year-old husband said in her defence. "You can even see it in one of the pictures, just not in the closer crop. You can see the sun visor is down, and the belt coming from the top left."
Both public servants, the couple made repeated submissions to Access Canberra's Infringement Review Office, desperate to prove the AI-powered camera had made a mistake.
Finally, after a six-month ordeal, Access Canberra notified the woman on June 4, 2026, that the infringement notice had been "issued to you incorrectly" and withdrawn.
While the agency apologised for the "administrative/technical error", it offered no explanation for how the mistake occurred, despite taking more than 190 days to review the matter.
However, the couple's relief was short-lived. Two weeks ago, her husband received a traffic infringement notice of his own: a $615 fine and three demerit points for allegedly using a mobile phone behind the wheel.
"Got a mobile fine. But you can clearly see the phone is in a holder near my hand. It is as an example of how ridiculous the system is," the frustrated driver said, showing images captured by a transportable traffic camera on Drakeford Drive in Isabella Plains on the afternoon of July 7, 2026.
"The car belongs to my daughter, so the notice wasn't originally in my name. She has transferred the fine to me, and once it arrives, I'll be submitting evidence to get it cancelled."
The family is now gearing up for yet another battle with Access Canberra, this time to overturn what they insist is another false positive.
