AI camera use for motoring offences

Greater Manchester has become the latest area to turn to Artificial intelligence (AI) cameras to automatically detect when drivers are using a hand-held mobile phone behind the wheel or not wearing a seatbelt. 

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) started a trial with cameras mounted to a vehicle or trailer at several locations.  

National Highways, which is responsible for England's motorways and major A roads, first trialled the technology in 2021. Earlier this year it announced that 10 police forces (Durham, Greater Manchester Police, Humberside, Staffordshire, West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk; Thames Valley Police and Sussex) would be testing the new kit until March 2025 to help inform a possible future roll-out nationwide. 

Research shows you are four times more likely to be in a crash if you use your phone while driving and twice as likely to die in a crash if you don’t wear a seatbelt.

We recently uncovered a worrying trend in seatbelt compliance, which suggests that fleet managers should not assume drivers are buckling up. 

In Greater Manchester alone, 138 people were killed or seriously injured between 2014 and 2023 following road traffic collisions where driver distraction was a contributing factor. Of those deaths, 23 people lost their lives in a road traffic collision where the driver was using a mobile phone.

And in 2020, one in four people killed in road traffic collisions in Greater Manchester wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

TfGM says it will use data from the AI camera trial to understand how many drivers still choose to break the law and to refine its future road safety campaigns, aiming to improve compliance of mobile phone and seatbelt use by drivers.

How does the technology work?

The cameras capture footage of passing vehicles without motion blur or distortion, even if they are travelling up to 186mph. They work day or night and in almost any weather conditions (including sun glare). 

The images are processed using AI to analyse whether the motorists could be using a hand-held mobile phone or not wearing a seatbelt. 

Footage deemed to contain evidence of an offence is then checked by a human to confirm it is correct and if it is then the driver will be issued with a penalty charge notice. 

Drivers can be fined up to £500 for not wearing a seatbelt in addition to penalty points, while using a mobile phone behind the wheel can result in a fine of up to £1,000 and six penalty points.

If the human check determines that no offence has been committed, the image is deleted immediately by the software and no further action will be taken.

The images are anonymised and it’s only if a driver is prosecuted that they are matched to vehicle registration details. 

How to adopt AI cameras on your fleet 

In-vehicle cameras which face the driver, and are powered by AI, can be a valuable tool to improve the safety of your fleet, meet your duty of care obligations, protect your company’s reputation, and reduce your incident and insurance costs. 

Like the technology being trialled by National Highways, police forces and TfGM, driver-facing cameras can detect whether a driver is wearing their seatbelt, using a hand-held mobile or even showing signs of fatigue. 

You will be sent an alert about this behaviour and can then take action to address it before the driver is caught by the police or involved in a serious accident. 

We’ve been using driver-facing cameras with in-built AI, known as Flexicampro, in our vehicles since 2022 and there are proven benefits. 

When we first trialled the technology with a van fleet operating 40 vehicles, a baseline assessment established non-compliance with seatbelt requirements could occur in more than one-in-five (22%) journeys. 
But thanks to the technology, combined with a driver awareness programme, 100% compliance was achieved within a short timeframe. 

Our Flexicampro technology is available to our customers as part of a suite of risk management services within the modular Drive with Reflex. 

Along with seatbelt compliance, it can help ensure drivers are taking regular breaks by monitoring their face for signs of fatigue and sounding a warning to the driver when it detects cause for concern and potential dangers.

Find out more about Flexicampro.