Rigid enforcement of seat belt laws in Australia

Part of Australia has imposed very rigid enforcement of seatbelt laws using cameras to watch everyone in every car. This is dangerous — even if the cameras do not recognize people now, they surely could be made to do so at any time.

The software that looks at the cameras is not a bullshit generator. It sounds like true but limited artificial intelligence. It seems they are very accurate at recognizing the distinction they are supposed to determine

I criticize the system for being too rigid.

When I am in a car, normally I firmly insist on wearing my seatbelt. Not because of a law, but because that is normally safer.

However, when I traveled long distances sharing a car to science fiction conventions, sharing the driving, I needed to sleep some of the time. I left my seatbelt off, then, so that I could sleep. I think that was safer than going without sleep.

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