There has been another case where the ACT government's artificial intelligence phone spotter has accused a driver of holding a phone when the driver is adamant she wasn't - and she has the picture to prove it.
"The system is clearly deeply flawed," the driver, Fiona Devers, said. The ACT government has admitted that the system can make mistakes.
Ms Devers was driving her Toyota Corolla along Gungahlin Drive on May 28 when she was pinged by the camera. The infringement notice with a $548 fine and three demerit points arrived a few days later - but one of the pictures on it clearly showed her driving with both hands on the wheel.
The 66-year-old is one of the few people on this planet who doesn't own a smartphone. She does have an ancient Nokia but she said she hadn't used it in many months and could prove that by showing the phone's call records. She also said that she had taken the matter up with Access Canberra, and its "lovely" employees (as she described them) agreed that she had both hands on the wheel.
Three people from Access Canberra had seen the pictures taken by the camera, she said, including the picture with both her hands on the steering wheel. They all agreed, she said, that there should have been no case to answer.
The ACT government said that the AI computer system made an initial analysis in all cases but "these images are then assessed by a specialised officer employed by the camera provider".
"Despite this extensive review process," the ACT government spokesperson said, "and the multiple stages of assessment undertaken before an infringement notice is issued, there is always the possibility of human error occurring given the volume of offences detected on ACT roads."
Within hours of The Canberra Times asking the ACT government about the case, Ms Devers received an email saying her case had been dropped and that there would be no fine.
But her concern is that even with the fine surprisingly nullified, the system needs to be challenged. If it can make one mistake, how many more are possible?
"I've done this for myself but I've also done it because people need a voice," she said.
"I've got a perfect driving record and I'm incensed that this has happened," she said. "This is just insane. What are they doing with their systems?"
Last week, The Canberra Times published the case of a driver who said he was changing gear on a manual car but the AI "eye" detected it as his hand holding a phone. He was fined $548 and received three demerit points for allegedly using a mobile device on Gungahlin Drive.
"Most people would know it as an optical illusion," the car's owner said. He said he rang Access Canberra's infringement office to request that the notice be reviewed or withdrawn, but he said the response was callous.
"To my absolute astonishment, the reviewer told me the driver was definitely holding something. When asked what he was holding, they couldn't tell me," the complaining driver said.
And in May, a Gungahlin woman got a $548 fine and three demerit points for "use of mobile phone - hand held". She said she hadn't used one because she has Bluetooth and uses the phone remotely.
The Canberra cases where AI has got it wrong follow cases in Sydney where cameras and the computers behind them failed to read number plates correctly, so Canberra drivers were getting billed for rides on Sydney toll roads which they provably hadn't taken.
Motorway operator Transurban apologised for the bungles, which it insisted were rare, but it didn't explain the exact cause of the problem nor how many cars had been incorrectly charged.
