Right: A pilot in
Sydney, Australia,
exposes cellphone
use at the wheel
using high-definition
cameras (above)
though Jannink is reluctant to
discuss the specifics of camera
technology in advance of patent
release. In parallel to fixed
placements, Acusensus has
developed a mobile, trailer-based
solution currently being
rotated around Sydney.
“Globally, distracted
driving is probably the
leading unaddressed cause
of road trauma,” says
Jannink, who himself lost a
friend to an accident caused
by impaired driving. “Most
governments acknowledge it’s an
under-reported issue. In New South
Wales, when a police officer goes to
the scene of an accident, their job is to
attribute fault, not to establish cause.
But the Queensland University of
Technology attribute 25% of crashes
to distraction, 30-40% of which is
probably phone-based. Developed
countries have seen increases in
fatality rates of around 4% per year
| Distraction Detection
since 2013, which is a big difference
to the previous three decades. This is
the new drink-driving.”
Now, Acusensus are in talks with
authorities around the world, with
uptake of their system expected in
North America and the Middle East
as well as Australasia. But will this
herald an end to mobile enforcement?
“The existing method is policebased
enforcement, typically
motorcycles lane-splitting between
traffic,” says Jannink. “In Australia,
most policing occurs at traffic
lights, but if we produce systems
to enforce people stopped at lights,
they may move their behavior to
when they’re in motion, which would
be a perverse outcome. We wanted
to provide credible enforcement for
high-speed traffic, when vehicles
present the most danger to occupants
and to others.”
While advocating fixed solutions
for multi-lane highways and safetycritical
zones like schools, Jannink
believes that mobile enforcement,
which provides an anywhereanytime
deterrent, will continue to be
essential to reducing phone use
across road networks. As intelligent
fixed systems evolve, Supercabs, or
vehicles like them, seem set to be
with us for some time yet.
The solution detects each vehicle
using radar technology, triggering
high-resolution images to be taken.
It then analyzes them to determine if
the driver is using a phone
Alex Jannink, managing director, Acusensus
SOURCE: TRL
Critical figures
12.5%
Alcohol
21%
Cannabis
26.5%
Hands-free
phone use
37%
Texting
45%
Handheld
phone use
Increase in driver reaction times caused by different impairments
July/August 2019 Traffic Technology International
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
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