A heads-up; you’re busted

Western Australia is now investigating new roadside camera technology to combat distracted driving, which it estimates causes 32 percent of fatal and serious crashes. “There are three different models,” road safety Commissioner, Kim Papalia, explains. “We have roadside cameras which are not dissimilar to mobile safety camera operations that [ are used] around Australia, then we have fixed sites that can operate as gantry or high roadside camera operations. Or, what would be a completely new initiative for us: mobile camera operations moving with the flow of traffic.”

The final example is described as a high-riding police vehicle, festooned with cameras, to catch drivers in the act, on the road.

Victoria is going a step further, with police working in conjunction with transport and telephone companies to implement a system that could limit phone use in cars altogether.

“In my mind, within the next 18 months, there will be a technological solution that will block the ability to access data while driving. I think it is really close,” Doug Fryer adds.

“I can’t go into a lot of detail, but Victoria Police, Linfox, and Telstra are all working together at the moment to figure out what can be done. We have been doing that for the past year. It would be at an enterprise level. Not just a thing you plug in and opt in or out, but at an enterprise level.”