An Aussie driver has warned other motorists that they could be fined and given demerit points for failing to stow their solar screens correctly when they’re not in use after he got a nasty surprise during a road trip recently. 

Brent (pictured below), who is using social media to document his travels across the country with his partner Sarah, has revealed he was fined $420 and hit with three demerit points when he was pulled over along the Alpine Way in the Kosciuszko National Park in NSW.

Young man in a beanie reading a document inside a sticker-covered van, smiling.
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He came to police attention because he had no front mudguards fitted to his vehicle, but was given 10 days to fix the issue. However, stowing his reflective solar screen – a common windscreen accessory used to reflect sunlight so car interiors don’t get too hot – cost him plenty.

It could have been worse. Brent could have been handed a defect notice for the solar screen, but the officer allowed him to fix the problem on the roadside instead, and told him he could stow the screen there while he was off-road without attracting a penalty.

According to the details on his infringement notice, Brent was fined and hit with the points loss for driving with a “TV/VDU image likely to distract another driver”. While the letter of the NSW law relates to a television or visual display unit, it appears the officer handed out the fine because of the risk of reflected sunlight from the screen interfering with other motorists’ clear view of the road.

Many of the Aussies who saw Brent’s posts on his Wandering.Offgrid accounts on TikTok and Instagram were shocked and infuriated by what happened, with several branding the infringement a case of nanny-state overreach by police.

Others thought the fine was unjustified considering the other reflective surfaces that don’t get penalised, with one commenter writing, “Gotta love that the entire front of a Mack truck can be chrome and have a grate in front of the windscreen … What’s next, no more chrome grilles and bumpers?”

However, some responders sided with the police officer and left comments like “it’s like a mirror shining into oncoming drivers’ eyes” and “maybe think about the reflection for other drivers”. 

Earlier this year, Queensland police warned drivers about using reflective window and dashboard accessories, which could see them fined $389.