Almost half a million unpaid fines were written off by the Queensland government's debt collector last financial year, totalling almost $140 million.
That was almost double the number of debts written off two years ago.
There is more than $1.3 billion remaining in outstanding fines being pursued by the State Penalties and Enforcement Registry (SPER), as at June 30.
More than $250 million has been outstanding for more than five years.
The forgiven fines total almost $140 million, with more than $1.3 billion remaining to be paid. (AAP: Joel Carrett )
The figures come amid the rollout of heavy new fines for e-mobility riders flouting laws, and legislation before parliament to drastically increase fines for dangerous drivers.
More than 460,000 debts were written off by SPER last financial year, down from 585,000 in the previous.
'All reasonable action' taken
A SPER spokesperson said the collector makes every effort to track down unpaid fines.
"SPER debts can be written off for a variety of reasons, including where a debtor is deceased, a company is deregistered, or aged debts are simply uneconomical to recover," they said.
"This is consistent with standard industry debt recovery practices.
"Before writing off any debts, SPER undertakes all reasonable action to recover them, which can include data enrichment and verification processes."
Of the written-off fines, almost 90,000 had been outstanding for more than ten years, 213,000 outstanding between five and 10 years, and 151,000 outstanding for three to five years.
Debts owed to victims of crime are not written off.
SPER has the power to reinstate the fine should new information come to light, which will allow it to collect the amount.
The debt collector doesn't publicly disclose the exact guidelines for writing off infringements, to ensure dodgy debtors do not use the information to flout their fines.
There was a total of almost 2.7 million unpaid debts in Queensland as of the end of June.
Almost half of those were outstanding from three months to three years, totalling more than $700 million.
About a million fines were outstanding from three years to more than a decade, with a balance of more than $420 million.
The LNP government has rolled out heftier penalties since coming to power in 2024.
Proposed laws before state parliament will double the penalties for drink and drug drivers and implement harsher consequences for other serious offences.
They include a minimum fine of $1,251 for first-time drug and drunk drivers.
A parliamentary committee examining the proposed laws will report back to the government next week before the legislation returns to parliament for debate.
