We’ve all seen drivers chatting away on their (not hands-free) mobile phones. A development in one state is about to make that even more expensive.
New hi-tech mobile phone and seatbelt cameras are being rolled out this week on Victoria’s roads, the Herald Sun reports, with two mobile phone and seatbelt detection camera trailer systems to go live on Friday.
The artificial intelligence-enabled cameras will be deployed to as many as 200 sites across metropolitan, rural and regional Victoria for several days at a time. They’ll be positioned according to crash history and site suitability.
The equipment captures high-resolution images of passing vehicles in all conditions, even in poor weather and low light, and follows a 2020 trial in Victoria which found one in every 42 drivers were illegally using their mobile phones behind the wheel.
It is illegal in all states and territories to use a hand-held mobile phone while driving.
VicRoads says: A fully licensed driver can use a phone to make or receive a phone call, to use its audio/music functions or perform a navigational (GPS) or intelligent highway vehicle system (in vehicle warning system) function but only if the phone:
• is secured in a commercially designed holder fixed to the vehicle, or
• can be operated by the driver without touching any part of the phone, and the phone is not resting on any part of the driver’s body.
All other functions (including video calls, texting, emailing, task management, photography, social media, shopping and share economy apps) are prohibited.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Justice and Community Safety says driver distraction is estimated to be a contributing factor in 11 per cent of road fatalities and the cause of over 400 serious injuries per year.
Do you have your phone in a designated holder? Or do you just make sure you don’t touch it while driving?
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