Mobile Phone Use Detection Sign - Bit of a Blunt instrument
Mobile Phone Use Detection Sign - Bit of a Blunt instrument
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Discussion

devnull

Original Poster:

3,864 posts

187 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-4477...

So a sign has been developed that can trigger if someone is on the phone, specifically if a mobile is in use AND it doesn't detect Bluetooth at the same time.

So this sign can be triggered if:

A passenger in the car is on their phone - perfectly legitimate.
Someone is using their phone with a wired headset - legitimate
You're on the phone, but you use something like an Apple Carplay / Android auto unit which does calls over a wire - the phone can be stowed awa in a container.

I'm all for reducing mobile use when travelling - smartphone and specifically social media use when driving is a cancer on society.


matjk

1,112 posts

170 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
They could change the Law and just make it blanket illegal to use a mobile device in a car full stop. Yanks take the same approach with drink driving, no open alcohol containers allowed at all, so the passenger cant have a quick tinny on route, they go ape-st if they find and old empty can under a seat , and they do look. Interestingly they seem more bothered by this than actual drink driving, they turn a blind eye to a lot of that

CoolHands

23,499 posts

225 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
Well it's certainly got my bullst detector going off - which coincidentally uses similar technology to this pile of tosh. I reckon it'll have babies with a TV licensing van and create skynet.

or not.

HantsRat

2,409 posts

138 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
It's just a trial - The company must have negotiated this with the council.

Will not be used for enforcement and this will not go ahead nationwide. A pointless invention if you ask me.

donkmeister

12,938 posts

130 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
Better solution would be a camera that detects any driver staring at their crotch, flashes up the reg on a big sign and everyone else is allowed to fling stuff at the car/driver.

geeks

11,665 posts

169 months

Tuesday 10th July 2018
quotequote all
Thats a dumb way of implementing enforcement I can think of at least 3 other ways to set it off all that are not against the law.

Eyes on cars, that's the only way to enforce it. A blanket ban is just plain fking stupid to be frank!

Matthen

1,452 posts

181 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
The tech is good. I am a fan.

The next stage is to hook it up to a camera that takes a mug shot of the driver.

Then, a bloke in an office looks at the picture and decides whether or not to issue a fine. Anything to get people off their sodding phones is a big plus imo.

geeks

11,665 posts

169 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Matthen said:
The tech is good. I am a fan.

The next stage is to hook it up to a camera that takes a mug shot of the driver.

Then, a bloke in an office looks at the picture and decides whether or not to issue a fine. Anything to get people off their sodding phones is a big plus imo.
No the tech is stupid, crap and pretty pointless. I am all for getting people off phones but this is not the way, it would take hundreds upon hundreds of photos a day, depending on where you put another that would thousands of photos a day, we don't have the man power to go through these images, also not to mention what would happen once the local scrotes work it out and start setting off on purpose.

We could have tailgating cameras, now those would be useful. Even MLM sensors although that one is a bit tougher. As I already said, if you want to cut down on illegal phone use in cars (you cant stop the bluetooth or earbud users) then you need eyes on cars, its that simple!

simonbrooks

183 posts

211 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Matthen said:
The tech is good. I am a fan.

The next stage is to hook it up to a camera that takes a mug shot of the driver.

Then, a bloke in an office looks at the picture and decides whether or not to issue a fine. Anything to get people off their sodding phones is a big plus imo.
Great idea. One problem. You've just taken a photo of an innocent driver and fined him for a passenger using a mobile phone. How can the technology distinguish who in the car is using the phone?

Starfighter

5,347 posts

208 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
I think the idea is that the drone in the office looks at the picture to see if the driver is on the phone. Can’t see the phone in hand, can’t be done.

Phone in the boot and receiving a call but going unanswered would also trigger this. Nice idea but has more holes than a very holey thing.


xjay1337

15,966 posts

148 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Dumb idea.

aazer89

557 posts

174 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
donkmeister said:
Better solution would be a camera that detects any driver staring at their crotch, flashes up the reg on a big sign and everyone else is allowed to fling stuff at the car/driver.
Love this idea, see it all the time. Queued in traffic and the person in front is looking down into their lap, then up at traffic, then down, 'oh bugger' floors it to catch up with traffic, looks down again. I beep and then they look around, when they notice its me I get the abuse for calling them out on it.
Only once has someone apologised and stopped doing it.


loose cannon

6,057 posts

271 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Did it not say in the story that it’s not being used for inforcement, but as a warning to make you re think your actions, so not sure we’re all the talk of prosecution and letters sent out to passengers on the phone has come from smile

JCDenton

22 posts

102 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Councils will love idea, they will stick up loads of these signs around schools etc... like the happy/sad face signs.

Will it make a difference probably not...
unless a lot of ifs:
-if the system becomes HOTA approved (for which there is currently no HOTA procedure in place)
-if the law changes to allow them to have a camera and for the images to be sent to the fuzz.
-if the fuzz can even be arsed to enforce it due to all the manpower requirements to check the footage and the paperwork necessary to issue NIPs. I suspect the offence can't be decriminalised, which would see council able to enforce it and collect the £££ much like yellow box or bus lane offences.

JC

xjay1337

15,966 posts

148 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
aazer89 said:
Love this idea, see it all the time. Queued in traffic and the person in front is looking down into their lap, then up at traffic, then down, 'oh bugger' floors it to catch up with traffic, looks down again. I beep and then they look around, when they notice its me I get the abuse for calling them out on it.
Only once has someone apologised and stopped doing it.
Often I will look at my phone in traffic, not if it is at a traffic light sort of thing but when you're stopped for a minute at a time what is the harm?


Matthen

1,452 posts

181 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
geeks said:
Matthen said:
The tech is good. I am a fan.

The next stage is to hook it up to a camera that takes a mug shot of the driver.

Then, a bloke in an office looks at the picture and decides whether or not to issue a fine. Anything to get people off their sodding phones is a big plus imo.
No the tech is stupid, crap and pretty pointless. I am all for getting people off phones but this is not the way, it would take hundreds upon hundreds of photos a day, depending on where you put another that would thousands of photos a day, we don't have the man power to go through these images, also not to mention what would happen once the local scrotes work it out and start setting off on purpose.

We could have tailgating cameras, now those would be useful. Even MLM sensors although that one is a bit tougher. As I already said, if you want to cut down on illegal phone use in cars (you cant stop the bluetooth or earbud users) then you need eyes on cars, its that simple!
If we haven't got the manpower to go through the pictures, why would we have the man power to have people sat in cars? Office space is cheaper and the sign has already ruled out a lot of the traffic going past. Further, machine learning could be applied to further rule out photographs.

Both tailgating and MLM cameras could be achieved using the smart motorway cameras with a little bit of clever coding and clear definition in law, however there is no drive to do it.

MLM - has a car been detected in the lane to the left in the last N seconds, or is visible within N seconds up the road? No, store onward & rearward video frames and reg plate for fine.

Taligating - is car within 2 seconds of car in front of it? Yes, send driver a fine.


Issue is both lane hogging and tailgating are not clearly defined in law. Properly define them both with a distance/time metric, and watch the cameras pop up.

W124Bob

1,863 posts

205 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Can it detect the difference between a car and a pedestrian with a mobile phone ?

Graveworm

9,242 posts

101 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Matthen said:
If we haven't got the manpower to go through the pictures, why would we have the man power to have people sat in cars? Office space is cheaper and the sign has already ruled out a lot of the traffic going past. Further, machine learning could be applied to further rule out photographs.

Both tailgating and MLM cameras could be achieved using the smart motorway cameras with a little bit of clever coding and clear definition in law, however there is no drive to do it.

MLM - has a car been detected in the lane to the left in the last N seconds, or is visible within N seconds up the road? No, store onward & rearward video frames and reg plate for fine.

Taligating - is car within 2 seconds of car in front of it? Yes, send driver a fine.


Issue is both lane hogging and tailgating are not clearly defined in law. Properly define them both with a distance/time metric, and watch the cameras pop up.
I am good with all of this in principal. There is way more to MLM as they can sit in a queue of centre lane traffic all overtaking one slow mover and they could be moving up to move to the offside to overtake an MLM. Also 2 seconds is probably a bit harsh for tailgating these days. Recognition plus reaction can be less.

As for the original post its just a sign that flashes if it detects a phone being used in a car, I don't think it's lack of discrimination is going to cause any issues to a driver not using a phone.

ElectricPics

761 posts

111 months

Wednesday 11th July 2018
quotequote all
Most of the people I see yacking away with their phone pressed to their ear when driving wouldn't notice a bus in front of them, let alone a sign lighting up.

Retroman

975 posts

163 months

Thursday 12th July 2018
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I wonder how it differentiates between mobile data being in use and a call being in use.
I suspect it doesn't

Lots of people will be using mobile data without bluetooth with Google maps when using the phone as a Sat Nav

I wonder how it determines that a bluetooth connection has been established with another device also....