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Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

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Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#31

Post by delfinom »

javagram wrote: post #4
y4mi wrote: post #3

So they're ramping up the detection of people using their phones while waiting for the traffic light to turn green? Doesn't really sound like this is actually about safety. I doubt these cameras can capture the photo do a decent quality on that angle for anything but standing or very slow moving cars But I guess we can hope it will stop some people, even if there will be a lot of people caught that weren't really end…

People using their phones while waiting for the light is absolutely a safety issue. They aren’t paying attention and when the light turns green they may either hit a pedestrian as they hurry to move , or not notice the green and be rear ended by a driver who expects them to begin moving.

Just not moving at a turn lane because they are texting is big deal. Turn lights are timed precisely to let X number of cars go through. Dick butt takes up most of the time texting and now traffic is stuck backing up from the turn lane into the normal straight traffic lane and onwards.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#32

Post by smileysteve »

ryandrake wrote: post #5

They don’t need new technology, just a bus. Sit a few officers in it where their vantage point is about a meter over the top of cars, drive around the highway a bit, and mail merge a bunch of citations. I was bored on a 2 hour bus ride the other day and easily spotted hundreds of drivers fooling around in their phones while driving at highway speed. Mostly texting. Insanity!

Stop, why!

Aiming to catch people on their phones is a perversion of the laws because we have made it too easy to get away with driving while distracted.

It used to be that distracted driving was subjective; but with dash cams on police cars, why can't police crack down on actual distracted indications objectively. All of us anecdotally can guess that someone not moving on green, going slow in the left lane, crossing multiple lanes at the last minute is on their cell phone; So let's start enforcing a law that applies more broadly (eating, intoxicated, cell phone, distracted by passengers, rubber necking) and start seriously enforcing it.

If we seriously enforced distracted and reckless behavior, maybe cities wouldn't even have to worry about congestion taxes.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#33

Post by blahyawnblah »

chris_wot wrote: post #18
gruez wrote: post #12

>But it is illegal to touch a phone while driving except to pass it to a passenger. The ban even applies to drivers who are stationary at red lights or stuck in traffic jams. This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use gps on their phones. Also, doesn't this essentially outlaw rideshare drivers? How can you accept rides or confirm a pickup if you can't touch the phone? I never saw any driver use voice commands…

Hold your phone to use it for contactless payment at Mcdonalds and they can fine you. I shit you not. Revenue raising is most definitely what it is.

You're not on the road at that point, so I doubt that

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#34

Post by quotemstr »

jjulius wrote: post #19
gruez wrote: post #12

>But it is illegal to touch a phone while driving except to pass it to a passenger. The ban even applies to drivers who are stationary at red lights or stuck in traffic jams. This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use gps on their phones. Also, doesn't this essentially outlaw rideshare drivers? How can you accept rides or confirm a pickup if you can't touch the phone? I never saw any driver use voice commands…

>This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use gps on their phones. What hassle? Futzing with your GPS app while driving is just as dangerous as texting. Set your destination before you drive and pull over if you need to adjust it, just as you should if you need to text. >How can you accept rides or confirm a pickup... Pull over.

Do you yourself drive? It's easy to make these demands when you're not affected by the resulting inefficiency.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#35

Post by ticmasta »

One thing that is unclear is that the two independent images, one showing an individual using a phone where they may be personally identifiable and a second showing the car's license plate. So they fine the registered owner of the car for the driver being distracted? What if I'm in a car share? Do they subpoena the companies records or just fine them and have it passed on a la rental cars and speeding tickets?

I think distracted driving is a real problem but just like photo radar this punishment weeks after the fact when you get a fine in the mail will have very little impact on the underlying behavior. It's like watching your kids do something unacceptable and then grounding them a week a later as punishment. If they wanted to really change behavior they need to get in the faces of drivers like drinking and driving check-stops; pull them over, ask them if their using their phones, warn them of the danger (they could check for impaired driving at the same time). The problem is cops on the ground costs money; this makes money.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#36

Post by jjulius »

blahyawnblah wrote: post #33
chris_wot wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hold your phone to use it for contactless payment at Mcdonalds and they can fine you. I shit you not. Revenue raising is most definitely what it is.

You're not on the road at that point, so I doubt that

Right. I'm sure the language of laws in many regions suggests that using tap-to-pay with your phone at a drive-thru is technically illegal, but I'd be curious to see if anybody has actually been ticketed for it or if this is just fearmongering.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#37

Post by ticmasta »

quotemstr wrote: post #34
jjulius wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use gps on their phones. What hassle? Futzing with your GPS app while driving is just as dangerous as texting. Set your destination before you drive and pull over if you need to adjust it, just as you should if you need to text. >How can you accept rides or confirm a pickup... Pull over.

Do you yourself drive? It's easy to make these demands when you're not affected by the resulting inefficiency.

heaven for bid we impact "driving efficiency" for something as low-priority as public safety...

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#38

Post by dsfyu404ed »

jjulius wrote: post #25
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use navigation systems. That's a key feature. It creates probable cause to pull over a huge chunk of drivers and possibly (at the discretion of the cop/department) rake in some revenue while doing it. Screw the poors and their non-integrated GPS. I'm sure someone will tell you it's about safety but if it didn't also please the pro-revenue crowd and the pro-control crowd…

>Screw the poors and their non-integrated GPS. "The poors" can still use their non-integrated GPS, just in a safe (set your destination before you drive, pull over to adjust) manner. That's what everyone should be doing anyway.

People who don't drive new enough cars to have integrated GPS buy a suction cup mount for their phone. It's not 2012 anymore, everyone has smartphones, nobody but truckers uses standalone GPS.

I know this crowd is too high class to know what it's like but something like using your phone for GPS can be the difference between leaving a fishing stop with a warning or a ticket depending on what kinds of citations the department is trying to prioritize.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#39

Post by ticmasta »

quotemstr wrote: post #29
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #21

Kinda funny how HN is normally anti-surveillance and against automated law enforcement unless you frame it as something pro-social. At the end of the day this is still a camera network capable of being repurposed for more sinister means of revenue generation at the whim of the government. If you really want to stop this behavior post a cop on the corner. His presence will prevent people from all sorts of other minor…

It's simpler than that: a lot of HN posters are just anti-car, and anything that makes driving less convenient is a good thing in their eyes.

Have just one experience with an inattentive driver for you or a loved one and then tell me the priority should be "driving convenience".

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#40

Post by jjulius »

quotemstr wrote: post #34
jjulius wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This sounds like a hassle for anyone trying to use gps on their phones. What hassle? Futzing with your GPS app while driving is just as dangerous as texting. Set your destination before you drive and pull over if you need to adjust it, just as you should if you need to text. >How can you accept rides or confirm a pickup... Pull over.

Do you yourself drive? It's easy to make these demands when you're not affected by the resulting inefficiency.

I drive 2+ hours round-trip for work every weekday, and my work often has me visiting client sites during the week. I find nothing difficult about setting my destination via GPS before I begin my drive, and I find that my attention to what's going on around me is significantly diminished should I attempt to modify my route while driving. An inconvenience of, say, 5-10 minutes to find a place to pull over and input new coordinates is absolutely worth it to prevent an expensive collision or running into, say, a motorcyclist I haven't seen because I'm staring at my phone.

I cannot believe people are arguing for "efficiency" over traffic safety.

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