Van that detects if drivers are holding a mobile phone trialled in UK

A van with technology that can automatically detect drivers holding a mobile phone at the wheel or not wearing a seatbelt is being trialled in the UK for the first time.

The initial three-month trial will determine how the technology can be further deployed in future.

The first-of-its-kind van, which will be stationary at the side of the road while in use, is equipped with multiple cameras which can record footage of passing motorists.

Images captured by the cameras are processed using artificial intelligence to determine if motorists were using a mobile phone, and detect drivers and passengers not wearing seatbelts.

Government figures show there were 420 collisions on British roads in 2019 in which the driver was using a mobile phone at the wheel.

The latest road casualty statistics for 2020 show that 23% of car occupant fatalities in reported road collisions were not wearing a seatbelt.

He said an RAC survey of drivers showed 79% were in support of this technology being introduced.

National Highways said the research was part of its long-term strategy to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured on the strategic road network to zero by 2040.

The van is also capable of being kitted with additional technology to detect tailgating offences in future. A new tailgating camera was trialled by National Highways on a stretch of the M1 near Northampton, and captured 60,343 instances of vehicles driving too close in one year (October 2020 to September 2021).

National Highways currently uses three HGV cabs equipped with cameras and police drivers, with the elevated position allowing police to drive alongside vehicles to film unsafe driver behaviour.

About 250 dangerous drivers a month are caught as part of the Operation Tramline programme, with handheld mobile phone use and not wearing seatbelts being some of the top offences identified by police.