Accessibility links

Breaking News

Australia Rolls Out Cell Phone Detection Cameras


This Jan. 18, 2019, photoFILE captured by a Mobile Phone Detection Camera and released by Transport for NSW shows a driver using a mobile phone while driving in Australia. Australian state New South Wales is attempting to persuade the public to put down…
This Jan. 18, 2019, photoFILE captured by a Mobile Phone Detection Camera and released by Transport for NSW shows a driver using a mobile phone while driving in Australia. Australian state New South Wales is attempting to persuade the public to put down…

Australia's most populous state on Sunday rolled out traffic cameras that can detect a driver using a mobile phone.

Andrew Constance, New South Wales' Minister for Roads said the "world-first" technology would target illegal cell phone use through "fixed and mobile trailer-mounted cameras."

Officials say 45 cameras will be installed across the state over the next three years.

Transport for NSW, which manages the state's transport services, said the cameras will operate round the clock and in all weather conditions.

For the first three months, drivers caught illegally using a cell phone will get a warning, after that offenders will receive steep fines and penalty points on their driver's license.

Some 329 people have died this year on New South Wales' roads, Reuters news agency reports. NSW officials hope to cut the number of road fatalities by 30% by 2021, the report said.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG