The testing and evaluation of a vision based automatic detection system for illegal phone use by drivers in Australia

Wall, J. P., Sakar, S., Lewandowski, V., Hayes, P., Legg, S., Banyer, G., Gavin, A., Jansen, A., Higgins-Whitton, L, McCaffery, T., Willoughby, J., Carlon, B

Keywords: Road Safety Strategy, Driver Risk, Distraction & Inattention, Policy Development and Implementation

ACRS

Submission Date: 2019

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Abstract

Naturalistic driving original studies have shown a range of crash risks associated with hand-held mobile phone use. One study found that mobile phone use during or shortly before a casualty crash increased the risk of the crash occurring by four times. Hand held phone use is illegal in Australia but until now enforcement options have been limited to direct intervention by a police officer observing illegal mobile phone use. In 2018, Transport for NSW (TfNSW) embarked on a project to find a camera technology detection solution for this road safety issue.