The chronicles of the last few days have rekindled the debate regarding the danger of using the smartphone at the helm and, reflected, the interest in Smart Security Systems capable of identifying the transgressors of the Highway Code. These devices, already active in some Italian cities, exploit advanced artificial vision and intelligence technologies to take photos and videos of vehicles in transit, recognize risk behaviors (such as the use of the phone or the failure to hook the seat belt) and send suspicious images to the municipal police. Law enforcement officers must no longer physically preside over the road section: the assessment can take place during the day or at night and with any climatic condition. The goal? Discouraging behaviors that, defining wicked, is an understatement.
In any case, the fines do not take automatically: the photographic and video material is sent to the authorities which, after appropriate checks, draw up the minutes and possibly apply the fine, which with the new highway code can go up to 1,000 with suspension of the license for up to two months.
How the anti-Smartphone camera is working at the helm
In Agliana, in the province of Pistoia, a device called Mobile Phone & Seat Belt Detection was installed, replacing an old speed camera used occasionally. This system consists of two cameras combined with an infrared flash, capable of capturing images even in conditions of poor visibility. The data collected are processed by a calculation unit that is supported by an AI software, i.e. a program based on artificial intelligence trained to automatically recognize only the situations of real violation, such as the use of the phone at the helm. The images of the alleged violation are then sent to the municipal police operators who, examining them, determine on a case -by -case basis what happened and, in the event of effective violation, issue the provision against the offender.
What are these cameras for and where they are installed
The deputy mayor of Agliana, Fabrizio Baroncelli, clarified that the intention is not to let the income of the Municipality rise, but to prevent dangerous behaviors. To the Florentine newspaper The nationBaroncelli explained:
It costs 25 thousand euros, but we purchased it at half price by returning the speed camera, which does not find optimal use on the roads of the Aglian area. The Seat Belt and Phone Detector is not a device to make cash but for safety. In particular, the use of the driving mobile phone is among the major causes of accidents because it causes continuous distractions
Article 173 of the Highway Code prohibits the driver of making use during the march of “radio and telephonic devices, smartphones, laptops, tablets and similar devices” that require the removal, even if only temporarily, of the hands from the steering wheel. Among other things, with the new highway code the sanctions have increased, with fines from 250 to 1,000 euros and the suspension of the driving license from fifteen days to two months.
Another similar device was introduced to Verona, called Cerbero: it is a camera equipped with two wide -angle optics (the so -called lenses Fisheye), Modem and GPS locator. In addition to detecting the use of the cell phone or locking belt, it is able to identify stolen cars, not insured, with expired or illegitimate revision in limited traffic areas. A sort of “Swiss knife” of road safety, practically!
The advantage of systems such as those mentioned above is twofold: on the one hand they allow to improve the effectiveness of the controls, avoiding that the lack of personal limits the application of the rules; on the other hand they reduce the workload of the agents, because the assessment process takes place in a selective and semi-automated way. Compliance with the seat belt can also be verified by these technologies, and it is a fundamental aspect: it is estimated that wearing the belt correctly reduces the risk of death in an accident of at least 50%.
How serious is the problem of the use of the mobile phone while driving
At national, European and international level, the problem of distracted guide is considered a real emergency. According to some estimates, in Germany, only in 2023 977 people were injured due to the use of the phone driving, of which 197 seriously and 20 fatally. In the United States, the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has reported 3,308 deaths only in 2022 for the same reason.
According to what the torture says (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents), a British association for the prevention of road accidents and also of other kind, those who use the phone is four times more at risk of crash, and the social cost of each individual fatal accident exceeds 2 million euros. Not to mention the “cost” in terms of lives and families broken by what has now become a sort of “cell dependence pandemics”.
