Mobile phone rules while driving: fines, demerits and grey areas

Queensland runs some of Australia’s strictest mobile phone enforcement, backed by cameras that detect touching rather than just holding. The headline numbers tell the story: a fine comfortably over $1,000 plus four demerit¹ points for a basic offence, doubled for repeat behaviour under the state’s year-round double demerit regime. Understanding precisely where the lines fall saves both money and licences²³.

The core rule: no touching

Under Queensland road rules, a fully licensed driver may use a phone only in limited ways:

• Mounted in a cradle or otherwise secured, used for navigation or audio without handling.
• Hands-free operation via voice commands or Bluetooth, again without touching.
• As a driver’s aid where expressly permitted.

The moment a hand touches the device while driving, whether to answer, scroll, skip a song or nudge a map, the offence is complete. Cameras photograph hands near faces and issue infringement notices automatically, so the days of arguing nobody saw you are gone.

Camera enforcement changed the practical calculus permanently. Fixed and mobile detection units now monitor driver behaviour across south-east Queensland continuously, and notices arrive by mail weeks later, by which point recollection of the trip has faded. Contesting a camera fine means engaging with the photographic evidence early, because viewing arrangements and election deadlines differ from ordinary infringement notices.

Stopped does not mean parked

The most common misconception involves stationary moments. You remain driving in the legal sense while sitting at red lights, crawling in congestion or idling with the engine running. Only genuinely parked, engine off situations fall outside the offence. Drive-through queues count. So does that three-minute school pickup line with the handbrake on.

Cyclists riding on roads fall under comparable rules for handheld use, and riders on provisional licences face similar device restrictions to P plate drivers. The theme is consistent: once you are in traffic, the state assumes your attention belongs to the road.

L and P plate rules bite harder

Graduated licensing applies stricter phone rules to newer drivers, and the restriction depends on licence type and age:

• Open licence holders and P2 drivers, along with P1 drivers aged 25 or over, may use a phone hands-free or in a properly mounted cradle for navigation and calls, subject to the road rules.
• Learner drivers and P1 drivers under 25 must not use a phone at all while driving, including in hands-free or mounted modes, except to contact emergency services in a genuine emergency.
• Touching the device while driving is an offence for every licence type, and the camera enforcement described above applies to restricted licence holders as well.

For L and P platers, four demerit points is not merely painful; combined with existing points it can trigger suspension almost immediately, since provisional licences tolerate far fewer points than open ones.

Work vehicles and employer pressure

Tradespeople, delivery drivers and sales staff face particular temptation: dispatch texts, client calls and navigation demands arrive while wheels turn. The law offers no work exception, and employers who require phone contact while driving share exposure under workplace safety obligations. Sensible fleets expect calls to wait for breaks, encourage do-not-disturb driving modes, and treat camera fines as personal costs. Employees pressured to answer while driving should raise the issue in writing; a fine plus demerits lands on the driver, not the dispatcher.

What it costs when caught

A first mobile phone offence currently brings:

• A fixed penalty well above $1,000.
• Four demerit points against your licence.
• Exposure to double demerits where a same-type offence repeats within twelve months, applied year-round in Queensland rather than only during holiday periods.

Points accumulate across three years. Reach 12 or more on an open licence and you face a choice between serving a suspension or electing a one-year good behaviour period allowing just one further point, with doubling consequences if it slips. Professional drivers and parents doing school runs lose livelihoods to this arithmetic constantly.

Restricted licence holders should model the arithmetic before risking anything at all: four points places many L and P licences at the suspension threshold outright, making the effective penalty a licence loss measured in months rather than a monetary hit. Insurance consequences ride along too, since some policies treat traffic convictions as disclosure triggers at renewal.

Grey areas that catch people out

Some scenarios generate endless arguments at kitchen tables:

• Passengers using phones: lawful in general terms, though restricted licence holders face wider limits, and passing a phone to a learner driver solves nothing.
• Smartwatches: interacting with a wrist device while driving can attract the same reasoning as phones, and enforcement practice keeps evolving.
• Voice commands: permitted for open licence holders through connected systems, but touching the handset to activate or adjust counts as use.
• Mounted navigation: legal to consult, illegal to type into mid-trip; set the destination before rolling.
• Phone balanced on the seat or dash: cradle rules require the device to be secured and not obscure your view; loose devices fail both tests.
• Drive-through payments: tapping a card app at the window while the engine runs remains risky territory despite feeling harmless.
• Emergency texts: the exception is narrow and genuinely urgent situations; a running-late message does not qualify.

When a fine arrives and the facts are arguable, election to go to court exists, though weighing the prospects honestly matters before electing.

Our traffic lawyers handle these infringements and their licensing fallout daily, we post updates on our blog , and more answers sit in our FAQ library .

Camera notice arrived and unsure whether to pay or fight? Contact Bell & Senior Lawyers for a free initial chat.

Notes

Related Resources

• Legal Matters Ep 33: Citizen’s Arrest, Self-Defence and Card Surcharges