At last an answer to idiots who still persist in using their mobile phones whilst driving.
I just do not see why they are not issuing fines during the trial period when they are getting photographic evidence of the offences.
The stated answer was that for legal reasons each new technology must be tested and found to be reliable before using it for law enforcement purposes. I donāt have a problem with that general principle. Otherwise a person could challenge the fine in court, arguing that the government has no evidence-base to support the claimed reliability of the detector.
Any detector that claims to be using āAIā to detect mobile phone usage should be subject to testing before just blindly putting it out there in live usage. After all, you might find that through some weird reflection phenomenon or unusual lighting conditions the camera is picking up the wrong car or just getting it wrong. There have been enough accidents in self-driving cars where the computer incorrectly analyses the scene to warrant robust testing.
Remember that for some drivers, use of a mobile phone could be instant loss of licence, with substantial flow-on consequences, so it is important to get it right.
In any case, it is not all about revenue raising. So sending a warning letter may be as effective at changing behaviour as sending a demand-for-money letter.
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This one has got me beat. I can understand an algorithm reading photographs to determine speed, number plates, even faces, but I cannot see how it could determine whether a person is using a phone. There would have to be at least two cameras, two angles, and there would have to be a referral to a person to determine what is actually going on - is that a phone or a chocolate bar? Is he holding a phone to his ear or scratching his head? While I applaud the concept and the technology, it will be interesting to see if the necessary human resources are deployed to do the job properly.
And just a clarification, the figure of 11,000 drivers caught was over a month, not a day.
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Some interesting options no doubt?
Eating or similar habits while driving may be just as great a hazard as picking up the mobile, given a need to take both hands off the wheel and use two hands at times while looking and opening the wrapper etc. Someone said thatās what your knees are for, to help steer while driving hands free! However knees apparently donāt see that well from under the dash. 
Knowledge that there is this camera tech out there may already be beneficial by causing drivers to reconsider some behaviours.
And unfortunately for some it may lead to loosing use of the roads except as a passenger.
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You Really Canāt Help Stupid.
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Concerns have also been raised about what happens with the photos taken in your car - how long are they kept? who looks at them? what else is done with them? who has access to them?
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And now we have someone raeding a book whilst driving in a 100km/hr zone.
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Two people killed by bus driver using mobile whilst driving.
You just canāt help stupid.
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The Federal Governemnt, RACV and others support a propsal to block WiFi on mobile phones whilst driving.
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I donāt understand the WiFi angle, do they mean mobile network data or people looking for open WiFi connections as they drive?
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I have no comprehension of the need to fiddle with a mobile whilst driving. Even navigation apps do not need you to be looking at the screen. (use your ears, twit!) I had a friend who would insist that it was alright that she would take calls and send texts whilst driving. IN the end I just wouldnt get in a car with her, and also terminated the friendship (it was always a bit fragile) If she didnt care about my safety, then I didnt much care for her either.
Using your phone in the car is just bordering on insane, IMO.
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Before anyone blocks anything, there are lots of circumstances to take into account.
If I am a passenger in a car, it shouldnāt be messing with my phone use regardless of the speed of the car. I may in fact be providing directions to the driver using a āmapsā application. It is unclear how a phone or a car will know whether I am a passenger or the driver.
I still want my phone on the mobile network while driving even if it is just to allow a voice message to be recorded.
Calls should not be blocked if the handset is paired with the car. In the future, I would expect the same to apply to text messages.
Then there are self-driving cars ā¦
If itās a voluntary ādriver modeā then fine but I have a suspicion that the same idiots who think itās a good idea to surf the net while driving might just not use ādriver modeā.
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Yep true if it is the driver while they are in traffic. I donāt have an issue if they are safely pulled over and are then using one, safely pulled over is the critical/crucial part here. Stopped at lights, waiting for traffic to move along or similar is not any type of excuse to use a mobile. Using it as a non held GPS is probably ok but texting, talking, watching a clip or show or film, playing a game, taking selfies (yes I have seen this), taking pictures, while being a driver are not safe options.
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Wellā¦ yesā¦ I would not expect the same of a passenger.
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Complex, when you think thru the scenarios used as examples in the previous posts.
Consensus and consistency required for a considered response to what is behavioural?
At one end of a spectrum of views we have a group who would prohibit even talking on a mobile that is tethered and hands free. The rational is that any distraction to the critical task of directing a life threatening motor vehicle is one too many!
At the other end of the spectrum a collection of drivers who consider their personal ability to assess and manage risk to be superior relative to the rest of the community. Hence it justifies why it is ok for them to use their mobile handheld or captive while driving for voice and text. Or reinterpret numerous other traffic regulations including speed restriction?
To add inconsistencies to the picture, we seem to accept the use of hand held and operated twoway radios in vehicles by the driver, operation of radios and audio devices by the driver, taxi job logging/call boxes by the driver and typically operation by hand of gps devices by the driver!
It seems reasonable and possible to put in place technical solutions to ensure compliance with traffic regulation. These include more than blocks on mobile phones in vehicles. They include fixed speed limiters in all vehicles 110kph absolute or less based on gps location.
None have come to pass! Perhaps too many of us desire to keep our bad habits.
It would be much simpler if everyone chose to fit in and do what is required when sharing the roads.
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As a sometimes twit with hearing loss who looks at my dedicated GPS maps, would anyone want software and notoriously inaccurate digital databases (speed limits, school zones, sometimes roads) controlling our vehicles? 737Max anyone?
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Does the percentage of idiots using their phone while driving warrant all drivers being put under the microscope? Cameras looking into your carā¦ blocking your phone receptionā¦ how much more āBig brotherā are we going to be subjected to?!
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Using a 2-way radio is legal, and I confirmed that with a police radio technician years ago.
Having said that, there is absolutely no comparison to using a 2-way radio to a mobile phone, especially if hand held.
The 2-way radio does not require the driver to look at it and to merely use one hand to operate the microphone, whilst discussing relatively simple matters within a closed circle of people.
Mobile phones necessitate drivers looking at the screen to see who is calling or who they are calling, using one hand to hold them whilst using the other hand to send, end, dial, etc.
Furthermore, users on mobile phones go into la la land as they visualise who or what is being discussed.
And that is without even mentioning texting.
When I ducked down to our local Coles yesterday afternoon and got to the T intersection at the bottom of our street, the vehicle from a neighbouring property had pulled up behing a female who had stooped right at the intersection.
After a short wait, I carefully drove around both vehicles and I observed a young female sitting in the drivers seat and presumably texting.
The idiot could have pulled over but did not as she obviously had no concern for her safety or anyone elseās.
I can only speak for myself, really. I will not use my phone to text or talk whilst driving. I can tell Siri to send a text to someone, and i can call hands free, so I am not actually touching the phone at the time. It doesnt matter. It distracts. I do not care what anyone says, it is simply NOT the same as having a passenger with whom you talk whilst driving. A passenger can see what you see, and passengers tend to STFU when a āsituationā occurs, or when its obvious that the driver needs to pay less attention to the conversation. someone on the end of a phone does not and will keep talking anyway. Its a distraction.
I never look at the screen whilst using a navigation app, or device. Why? because I have ears (and even if I had loss of hearing, I have eyes to LOOK at the road ahead. If the direction given by the device or app seems wrong, I ignore itā¦)
I dont believe there is any reason to talk on the phone whilst driving. Ever.
