1. Intel Detect Drivers

While normal speed guns only detect how fast cars are moving, this new camera can produce clear video footage and photographs of drivers in their cars.

Intel Detect Drivers

THE world's first camera to catch drivers using their mobile phones has arrived - and it could come to the UK.

Being rolled out in New South Wales, Australia, the high-tech system has already captured shocking images of motorists breaking the law, including one driver texting while their passenger steers the car.

The system is just like a speed camera but can detect and capture when a motorist is illegally using their phone behind the wheel.

An initial month-long trial detected as many as 400 drivers in Sydney making calls, texting or taking selfies each day.

The NSW Gov will employ another 90-day trial starting in January 2019, in an attempt to stop the 'endemic' use of phones.

Motorists will only be issued with warnings during the trial, but sanctions of five penalty points and fines up to $488 (£250) fines will be imposed for Sydney drivers if the trial is successful.

• Skipping music, declining a call or unlocking your phone:Illegal. Any physical interaction with your phone will be classified as 'using it'.
• Programming your phone as a sat nav:Illegal. You must set the route before you turn on your car and set off on your journey.
• Using hands-free/Bluetooth kits:Legal. As long as you aren't distracted from focusing on the road.
• Using your phone when the car is stationary. e.g. in traffic or at a red light: Illegal. While the engine is on and you are in control of the car, it is illegal to touch your phone.
• Sitting in the driver's seat with the engine switched off: Legal. As long as you are pulled over to the side of the road in a safe location.
• Using voice commands. e.g. Siri: Legal. But only if you don't need to touch your phone at all to do so, and aren't distracted from driving. If you have to pick up your phone to enable voice commands, it is illegal.

Campaigners now want similar measures put in place in the UK.

Phone use behind the wheel is a massive problem in Britain as well, with millions admitting to doing it but getting away with it.

Penalties were doubled to £200 and six points last year - and figures show 30,470 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued to drivers for using their phones in 2017.

But the RAC's Be Phone Smart campaign wants more to be done - including giving cops better ways to catch drivers.

Campaign spokesman Rod Dennis said: 'One of the real challenges in clamping down on this dangerous behaviour is making drivers believe they will be caught – and given the increasing prevalence of mobile phones, it is very much a global problem.

'Motorists need to believe that using a handheld phone brings real consequences – and move on from thinking that it is just a minor momentary indiscretion that will go unpunished.

'So new technology, such as that proposed by the New South Wales government, could be a game-changer in the UK.

'If proven to be accurate in detecting illegal use, it could really help shift behaviour and, in turn, save lives. We would encourage enforcement agencies here to look into what role it could play.'

Speed cameras in the UK can already spot drivers breaking laws like not wearing seatbelts or using phones but it requires cops to analyse photos rather than automatically issue a fine.

And in November, police in Gloucestershire revealed a powerful new camera able to spy on drivers a mile away and catch them on their phone.

Australia is also leading the way in parking cameras after we revealed councils are trialling a new system that can scan 1,000 cars an hour to fine drivers overstaying - but this isn't coming to the UK any time soon.

An Australian company has developed a system that lets drivers know when they're speeding. When the technology becomes commercially available, it could help lead-footed drivers avoid tickets and also save lives.

It could even be used by parents to monitor teen driving.

The product, called SpeedAlert, links real-time location data and speed obtained with the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to a database of posted speed limits stored in a driver's PDA or programmable mobile phone.

Smart Car Technologies, a Sydney-based company that developed the product, hopes to convince Australian government agencies to deploy the technology in their automobile fleets. The product will soon go on sale in Sydney.

How it works

The setup does not need to be hooked up to a car's speedometer. In fact, it is entirely portable. A GPS receiver placed on the dashboard communicates with the PDA via a Bluetooth wireless connection. It will also work with newer phones and PDAs that have built-in GPS receivers.

If a driver exceeds the speed limit, the speed is shown on the PDA and an alert sounds if the driver doesn't slow down.

A voice let's you now if you're approaching a school zone and the screen displays the current speed limit based on whether school is in session.

'It's a clever idea,' said Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane of the Australian government, which helped fund research into the product.

The company hired Michael Paine, an Australian vehicle design engineer and traffic safety consultant, to do an independent analysis of the product.

Paine told LiveScience that his colleagues in the road safety field are 'very enthusiastic' about what they're now calling 'intelligent speed alert.' Other research, according to Paine, shows that 40 percent of all traffic fatalities involve speeding.

There is also a potentially controversial future use:

'Since the system is so portable, it would be easy to make it a requirement for teenage drivers to always use a speed alert device when driving,' Paine said. 'The system even has the capability to record speeding violations so parents can monitor their teenage drivers.'

Saving lives

Developing speed alert systems is high on the agenda of European governments, which cooperate on overall Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) strategies. The European Commission supports a separate project, also called SpeedAlert, whose web site states: 'In-vehicle speed information and warning system can significantly contribute to road safety.'

Paine said ITS planning in the United States seems to lack a speed-alert strategy.

Each year, more than 40,000 Americans are killed and nearly 3 million injured in some 6.3 million traffic accidents. The odds of dying in a traffic accident are about 1-in-100 for a U.S. resident. And motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for those ages 2 through 33.

In the 'United States, almost half of all fatalities to seat-belt wearing drivers occur at impact speeds of 30 mph or less,' Paine said. 'Traveling at just 3 mph over the posted speed limit can double the risk of a fatal crash.'

Paine figures that, as a conservative estimate, some 10 percent of U.S. auto fatalities would be avoided if 20 percent of cars had intelligent speed alert. 'Fatalities would drop by more than 30 percent if everyone stuck to the posted speed limits,' he said.