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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

#201

Post by hnick »

FlagsAreFun wrote: post #142
Phillipharryt wrote: post #135

What's ridiculous is you can't turn in any footage you take yourself. As a cyclist with a camera on my bicycle I have hundreds of drivers on their phone, yet the police has nowhere for me to turn this in.

This is simply not true. You can report any incidents via Crime Stoppers here: https://www.crimestoppers.com.au/give-information#block-view... . Each jurisdiction's specific reporting forms are different, but you can usually upload small files as attachments. If you do want the footage to be useful though, you'll have to be willing to put enough personal information in so the police can use you as a witness in court.…

That seems strange to me. Based on that logic, security camera footage (which has no witness at the time) couldn't be used to solve a crime. But surely it is?

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#202

Post by hnick »

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

Australia-wide according to the police.

"The police from NSW, ACT, Northern Territory and South Australia also confirmed it was an offence to have a mobile phone in your hand while sitting in a running car at a drive-through."

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/on-th...

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#203

Post by donkeyd »

sjwright wrote: post #143
Sendotsh wrote: post #89

Good. People in Australia don't take driving seriously. I spend a lot of time on the road, and have lived all over Australia, and the one defining thing I've found in common all over the country is that people are WAY too casual about driving. Sydney and Melbourne being the worst by far, with it being so bad it has become entertainment[0] On any given commute you'll see dozens of people playing with their phone while…

As an Australian who has driven extensively in many countries, my observation is that the quality and attitude of drivers around the world maps fairly closely to the style of the built environment and regulatory environment. Australian roads are unceasingly sensible. Every road is an appropriate width, every road has a logical speed limit, overtaking zones are clearly marked, heck, every bend on a fast road has a sig…

I feel like this is a case of "where I live, drivers are worst". I don't know anyone (except maybe the Germans) who would say that drivers in their country are the best drivers. (For the record, the Germans aren't the best either.) I live in the Netherlands and even in our bike infested cities, where you need to be on edge 100% of the time, people are playing with their phones in their manual cars all the time.

Also, by your logic, French and Italian drivers should be really competent, but they're not. If anything, southern European drivers are less sensible than those in the northern countries, that tend to have more sensible, well-maintained roads. However, statistics make it seem that that is not the case. [0]

0: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/2019...

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#204

Post by Joakal »

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…

Speed/red light cameras use a combination of sensors in ground and with laser/radar. On matching parameters, it records pictures at time of incident. Plausible that they don't record every car.

This Phone Use camera technology literally records every car AND who is in it (at least in front seats) for AI to process. Since they admit to using AI, it is likely that they are keeping all of the images.

This is definitely creepier technology. Imagine a fresh popular candidate caught 10 years ago in a leaked photo of being in a car with a racist. Well, poor example but you get the drift.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#205

Post by dbuder »

I called up an Australian Government agency today, the robot on the phone made me repeat "In Australia, my voice is my identity" three times. There was no skip option, afterwards it said an operator would ask if I consented! I told them no, but it's already gone into the ML engine and they will keep some part of it forever I bet. It didn't even provide any information on who was collecting the audio and what they can do with it outside of the service they are providing to the govt. Australia has become a weird surveillance state for no reason.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#206

Post by chris_wot »

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

Seems your doubts have been put to rest. Pity I got voted down by so many, this is a fact in Australia.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#207

Post by pbhjpbhj »

drivingeve wrote: post #137
tiew9Vii wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. I can’t figure it out though, they have some strict standards getting a license, red p’s for 12-24 months + 120 logbook hours, then green p’s where they are restricted to dangerous below highway speeds so have drivers aggressively overtaking them. Despite this, standards seem far lower than Europe. The horn thing is really annoying, often the person being beeped can’t move forward anyway due to traf…

The difference between European and Australian drivers is not that Australians have to do 120 hours of supervised driving, but that the supervisor for the hours of driving in Australia is usually the parents of the learner. So any bad habbits from parents are taught between generations. Compare that to the European system where you are requiredto hire a professional driving instructor to teach you (at great expense I…

I don't think that's true in UK. Just that insurance is so expensive that's it's far cheaper to get driving lessons.

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#208

Post by pbhjpbhj »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #66
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, if you're in a jurisdiction where it's illegal to be using your phone, I'm not sure how upset we should be about the police invading your privacy to prove you're breaking the law? I suppose you could argue that such a camera would also potentially capture the screens of passengers, though.

> I suppose you could argue that such a camera would also potentially capture the screens of passengers, though. That is exactly the main argument that I would make:) It also amounts to a permanent warrantless recording of a space that most people would expect to be semi-private, which is worrying even if you assume that it will only affect the guilty.

You expect a car driving down the road to be private? Like, you don't think anyone can see what you're doing?

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#209

Post by pbhjpbhj »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #78
javagram wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This problem is so widespread you would need a lot of cops. Frankly I’d rather have things like automatic cameras than police posted at every intersection. Look at how stuff like speeding works. Putting cops on the highways just makes people alert each other on waze to slow down in one specific area.

That's why I'm in support of automated linear speed checks absolutely everywhere.

You mean interval speed cameras?

I'd be fine with that if we first can have a conversation on speed limits. It seems on the road network places put in interval cameras and drop the speed limit by 10+mph. On motorways we get a de facto 80mph road going down to 50, regardless of conditions and traffic flow. That seems way to extreme a limitation IMO.

Though if the trains were cheaper it wouldn't bother me!

Re: Australia uses new technology to catch drivers on phones

#210

Post by welly »

sjwright wrote: post #143
Sendotsh wrote: post #89

Good. People in Australia don't take driving seriously. I spend a lot of time on the road, and have lived all over Australia, and the one defining thing I've found in common all over the country is that people are WAY too casual about driving. Sydney and Melbourne being the worst by far, with it being so bad it has become entertainment[0] On any given commute you'll see dozens of people playing with their phone while…

As an Australian who has driven extensively in many countries, my observation is that the quality and attitude of drivers around the world maps fairly closely to the style of the built environment and regulatory environment. Australian roads are unceasingly sensible. Every road is an appropriate width, every road has a logical speed limit, overtaking zones are clearly marked, heck, every bend on a fast road has a sig…

Spend a short amount of time on a motorbike in the UK to see how incompetent and switched-off many, many drivers are. Especially in the cities.
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