New mobile phone fines being pushed through Victoria’s parliament

Fresh laws being pushed through parliament mean more people could be fined while behind the wheel.

Hi-tech road cameras could soon catch out Victorian motorists using their phones behind the wheel, if legislation to legalise the technology passes through parliament.

The government will introduce new laws into parliament this week in a bid to legalise the cameras which peer into cars to catch motorists on their phones.

It follows a trial last year caught out dozens of drivers.

If the legislation is passed, the cameras would be enforced from 2023, meaning the government could rake in an additional $1 billion in fines each year.

“Anything that is going to support road safety we are very keen on,” chief commissioner Shane Patton said.

“We know that distraction and fatigue are key elements in collisions and we are trying to do everything we can to eliminate that.”

The legislation would legalise cameras that would effectively peer into cars to catch people out. Picture: Brendan Radke

Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has welcomed the legislation. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

A three-month trial of the technology last year assessed more than 600,000 vehicles on Victorian roads, and found a whopping one in 42 drivers were detected illegally using a mobile phone behind the wheel.

The technology used two portable cameras across a number of metropolitan and regional locations.

The highest rates of mobile phone use occurred at Craigieburn Road East in Wollert, Calder Park Drive in Hillside and Old Geelong Road at Laverton.

The cameras would take photos of motorists inside their cars. Picture: instagram.com/ivansarakula and supplied

The technology also detected drivers who weren’t wearing seatbelts, driving without hands on the wheel or with pets on laps.

Victoria appears to be following in the steps of NSW which introduced the cameras in 2019 and detected 21,000 offences over a 24-day period in the state.

Other changes will mean people charged with hit and run, dangerous driving cause death or serious injury or culpable driving causing death will have their licence immediately suspended while their case is before the courts.

The technology has caught out thousands of drivers in NSW.

Data from Monash University Accident Research Centre has shown the technology has the capacity to prevent 95 casualty crashes every year.

The technology uses an artificial intelligence enabled camera system to capture high-resolution images of passing vehicles in all traffic and weather conditions.

Police Minister Lisa Neville said the laws would help the new cameras prevent avoidable accidents.

“With changing technology presenting new challenges for road safety across the state, our road safety laws are evolving too and these changes – including ensuring distracted driving camera technology can catch and hold to account drivers dangerously using their mobile phones – bring Victoria’s laws into the 21st century,” she said.