‘It’s not a phone’: Driver fined over contested object on lap

Exclusive: A South Australian man claimed he was wrongly fined for using his mobile phone while driving, when it was actually a wallet sitting on his lap.

Mick, who asked for his surname to be withheld, was snapped by a camera in November last year, while travelling on the North-South Motorway at Regency Park, in Adelaide’s north.

The tradie and small business owner said the photo was taken not long after he had pulled out of a service station where he had bought some snacks.

“I am old school, I don’t do digital [payments], and I remember I had just paid and was driving out of the service station,” he said.

“I put my wallet on my lap because I don’t like having it in my back pocket and sitting on it when I am driving.”

Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au.

Mick was slapped with a $678 fine and three demerit points over the alleged infringement, issued by South Australia Police in February.

Although Mick admits the object in the photo looks very much like a phone, he is adamant it’s not.

“Absolutely, it looks like one, but it’s not a phone,” he said.

Mick’s close friend Deb, who helped him challenge the fine as English is his second language, said a closer inspection of the photo revealed telltale clues it was not a phone.

“When we received the fine it was clear to us that it was [his] square wallet. It has a tab on it and the dimensions are square,” she said.

“Maybe they thought the tab on the phone was from a phone cover, but he doesn’t use one.”

To prove his case, Mick sent in a photo of his wallet and a signed statutory declaration declaring it was the object in the photo, not a mobile phone. 

However, South Australia Police were not convinced.

In a March 2026 letter notifying Mick of his unsuccessful review, it stated: “This expiation notice was issued on the basis that the object observed in the detection images appears to be a mobile phone. After review of your submission there is no further evidence contrary to this allegation.”

Unhappy with the outcome, Mick elected to take the matter to court. 

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However, when he got to court, the process proved to be very formal and intimidating, Deb said.

“It felt like we would not be heard. It felt like we have to prove that it wasn’t a phone when, from what I understand, they should prove that it is,” Deb said.

Facing the prospect of having to spend several days in court if it went to trial, Mick ultimately chose to plead guilty in exchange for being given a reduced fine and having his demerit points wiped.

The judge’s reasoning for the reduction was that Mick was not using the “phone” and simply had it resting on his lap.

“For me, getting no demerit points was better than nothing, but it still hurts,” Mick said.

“At the end of the day, I knew if I kept on going, I might still be found guilty and have to pay the fine, and I would still maybe lose out on one or two days at work.

“With me being self-employed, I can’t afford that. So I took it on the chin.”

However, Mick said he believed AI-detected fines had gone too far and were potentially leading to many people like himself being incorrectly penalised.

Mobile phone detection cameras were rolled out in South Australia in June 2024. 

In December last year, the SA government announced it would be expanding the program with two more mobile detection cameras. 

In just over a year, 80,000 fines had been issued, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport said in the update.

The camera at Regency Park had nabbed the most drivers, with 21,000 motorists caught allegedly doing the wrong thing. 

“The expansion of these mobile phone detection cameras is a real testament to the powerful message they are sending to drivers who think it’s okay to break the law,” Department for Infrastructure and Transport chief executive Jon Whelan said at the time.

“We know that distraction is one of the fatal five and that using a mobile phone behind the wheel is one of the major sources of this.”