Teen girl fined for $1078 for using her mobile phone while driving reacts with outrage as she argues ‘it was quite clearly holding my trusty vape’
- Lillian Morrow is fighting a $1078 fine claiming an AI camera made a mistake
- She says a camera has mistaken her holding a vape for using a phone in her car
- The 19-year-old says her phone can be clearly seen on the passenger’s side seat
- Facebook users are divided over whether the photos prove her innocence
A teen motorist insists a traffic ‘smart camera’ has mistaken her vape for a mobile phone as she fights the $1078 fine.
Lillian Morrow, 19, was snapped on Brisbane’s Pacific Motorway in August by an overhead newly installed ‘covert’ camera that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect offenses such as mobile phone use by drivers and issue automatic fines.
Ms Morrow took to social media to signal her outrage, claiming the machine got it wrong and that she would fight the costly ticket in court., which will also dock four demerit points.
Lillian Morrow, 19, claims a so-called ‘smart’ traffic camera has mistaken her vaping for using a mobile phone while driving
‘Hey guys! Does anyone on here know the wait time for a fine to be heard in court?’ she wrote in a Facebook post.
‘I elected for the matter to be heard in court almost a month ago, haven’t heard anything.
‘Quite clearly holding my trusty vape and my phone is on the passenger seat.’
Not everyone was convinced by the photographic evidence.
‘Why does it look like a power cord is running over your seatbelt and up to your vape and why is your vape being held to the left side of your face?’ one skeptic wrote.
Ms Morrow insists that all the only thing she was holding when the photography was snapped was her ‘trusty vape’
‘I know people who have 2 phones. I think the cord over the seat belt gotcha.’
Others, however, thought she had a case.
‘Looks like a cord but I think this is part of her top, if it was a cord you would see it down the bottom, the phone is on the seat beside her, she’s not touching it,’ one wrote.
‘Looks like a vape to me, when you vape, you tend to hold it in your hand and rest it against your head sometimes,’ said another.
The 19-year-old is taking her case to court to avoid the hefty $1078 fine and four demerit points
One user said the ‘smart cameras’ now being used to detect a wider range of offenses were flawed.
‘These AI cameras do make mistakes they are not human and are prone to error just like a human’ he wrote.
‘AI will take a photo that looks like a phone and the phone is classified as a device that has a sim card installed if in fact.
‘You can prove no sim card was present it is not classified as a phone.
‘Many people are being f***ed by these cameras and they do not serve a purpose unlike speed cameras which are proven to slow people down.’
Opinions underneath Ms Morrow’s Facebook post were divided on whether the photo proved her innocence
Ms Morrow has called on Queensland’s Department of Main Roads to ‘throw out the ridiculous fine’.
A department spokesperson defended the reliability of the ‘smart cameras’.
‘The camera’s images are filtered by artificial intelligence (AI) software,’ the spokesperson told the Courier Mail.
‘If a possible offense is detected, the image is reviewed by an authorized TMR officer to determine if an offense has been committed.’
‘Covert cameras’, so named because their locations are kept secret and regularly moved, have been in operation since July and have pinged hundreds of drivers for using their mobiles.
Under Queensland law even resting a mobile on any part of your body, such cradling one in your lap, be judged a traffic offense.
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