New South Wales will allow the use of world-leading camera technology to detect drivers using their phones.
Several Australian jurisdictions, including Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria, have considered using automated camera technology to stamp out phone use behind the wheel.
But NSW is the first to take concrete steps to legislate, passing new powers as part of a broader suite of road safety reforms this week.
The legislation allows new, specialised cameras to be used to detect phone use, but will also allow the use from existing infrastructure – speed cameras, for example.
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The technology will first undergo a trial period, but is expected to become a permanent fixture on NSW roads.
“NSW is the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce legislation like the Road Safety Bill, showing this government’s ongoing commitment to road safety as technology and societal trends change,” the state’s roads minister, Melinda Pavey, said.
The dangers of phone use by drivers were brought into sharp relief earlier this year, when two police officers, Jonathan Wright and Matthew Foley, were critically injured after a car ploughed into them in Sydney’s southwest.
The driver had taken his eyes off the road for 20 seconds to look at his phone.
In total, drivers illegally using mobile phones have been involved in 184 crashes between 2012 and 2017, resulting in seven deaths and 105 injuries.
The technology is in use elsewhere in the world, including Saudi Arabia. In Australia, it is being pushed by private companies like Sydney-based firm One Task. One Task demonstrated the cameras to WA’s Road Safety Commission earlier this year. The company also pitched it to Victorian authorities late last year, but the state government said it had no plans to use such technology.
The reforms also extend powers to authorities for roadside oral testing of cocaine, increase penalties for driving under the influence and introduce red light-style cameras capable of detecting mobile phones used by drivers.
Speaking in NSW parliament on Wednesday, Nationals MP Ben Franklin said the technology would aid the efforts of police to stamp out phone use.
“While more than 40,000 infringements were issued by police for illegal mobile phone use in the 2016-17 financial year, emerging automated camera and software technology presents an opportunity to supplement police enforcement and further deter motorists from illegally using a mobile phone,” he said.
The legislation, he said, has been designed to ensure “technology developers are not limited in their design”. The technology would also allow the use of existing infrastructure and technology.
“For example, this may allow existing traffic enforcement devices, such as speed cameras, to be used if they are deemed appropriate,” he said.
