Hundreds of thousands of drivers are snapped by mobile phone detection cameras each day in New South Wales but most will never know about it.
When the cameras were first trialled in 2019, one in every 82 drivers had a phone in their hand.
This has dropped to one person in every 534, which is an 85 per cent reduction in the rate of offending in three years.
Around 135 million photographs are taken by mobile phone detection cameras each year and most are deleted within an hour by AI technology that detects no offence.
Any photographs that are flagged are then reviewed by humans.
Alexander Jannink from artificial intelligence company Acusensus said the cameras “have absolutely saved lives”.
“These cameras have saved hundreds of lives,” he said.
If the driver is clearly in the wrong a penalty is issued, which will set the motorist back a $362 fine and five demerit points.
So far this financial year, more than 172,000 fines have been handed out.
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The state’s road rules say you can only use your phone hands-free or in a commercially-manufactured holder to make calls, play audio or use maps.
There are now 47 of these cameras across NSW.
Some are fixed while others move around, but unlike speed cameras, none of them are signposted.
Those behind the program believe this is one of the reasons they are working.
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“It’s an anywhere, anytime deterrence,” Bernard Carlon from the Centre for Road Safety said.
The success of the cameras has seen other states follow New South Wales‘ lead but Queensland has already gone one step further.
Their cameras are now also detecting seatbelt offences, something that will eventually happen in NSW as well.
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