Cyprus is deploying artificial intelligence cameras to catch drivers using mobile phones after 19 people died last year from careless or negligent driving attributed to distracted driving, with authorities unable to prosecute under current enforcement systems.
Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades told the Road Safety Council on Thursday that detecting drivers using mobiles is a gap in current enforcement, with police identifying about 19 fatal accidents last year as due to driver distraction pointing to mobile phone use.
“We cannot continue to lose people on the roads because someone decides as a driver they must use their mobile. This is something we can only handle with a photo-enforcement system,” Vafeades said.
Several drivers and passengers also lost their lives last year from not wearing seatbelts, according to authorities. In some collisions, the driver or passenger seat remained intact but lives were lost because seatbelts weren’t worn.
The Transport Ministry presented a proposal to amend legislation allowing mobile cameras monitoring motorways and urban networks to photograph drivers whose hands are not on the wheel or who are not wearing seatbelts.
Under the proposal, the mobile camera programme would be modified to record traffic continuously rather than spot-checking for speeding. Through artificial intelligence, cameras would activate automatically when someone’s hands are not on the wheel or no seatbelt is visible, photographing the driver.
Photos would be processed like the current system, with fines issued if violations are confirmed. The new violations must be incorporated into the operating system and approved by parliament.
The minister said the system will handle only mobile phone use and seatbelt violations, not other offences.
A committee will be formed to evaluate the photo-enforcement system, studying all experience data to date and submitting recommendations by March. Vafeades said after two to three years of system operation, it’s a good time to evaluate what went well and what didn’t, with the committee returning with proposals on improvements, corrections and actions to adopt.
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