This roll out of mobile phone detection technology follows a successful trial across metropolitan and regional locations, where 15,000 people were detected using a phone while driving.

In the trials, high-definition cameras were used to capture images of the front-row cabin space in vehicles. Illegal mobile phone use is detected using machine learning technology, in a similar manner to Bicycle Network’s AIRS program.

The phone detection technology has a high level of accuracy and paints an alarming picture of driver distraction. A Victoria trial earlier this year, for example, found that one in 42 people were using a mobile phone while behind the wheel.

As of November 2021, distracted drivers in Queensland will face a fine of up to $1,033 and four demerit points for illegal mobile phone use.

Mobile phone camera networks have also been made permanent fixtures in New South Wales and Victoria, following successful trials. They are part of a wider strategy to eliminate distracted driving on our roads and will help ensure that vulnerable road users are better protected.

The post Queensland switches on mobile detection cameras appeared first on Bicycle Network.

Tasmania’s road toll has reached a plateau in the past few years with deaths and serious injuries seemingly stuck at just over 300 people. Per capita, we have the highest road toll of any Australian state, with only the Northern Territory higher.

Our Road Safety Action Plan is generally pointed in the right direction but we need more funding, innovation and culture change if we are going to save lives.

Importantly, we need to transform our current transport planning approach from one focused on speed and convenience to one focused on safety of all road users.

You can make your own submission by 27 August by emailling it to rst@parliament.tas.gov.au and if you want more information on submissions visit the inquiry’s webpage.

Bicycle Network is making a submission to the inquiry on actions that could be taken to better protect people riding bicycles in Tasmania and acknowledgement of them in the government’s strategies and performance benchmarks.

Vulnerable road users

People riding bicycles are classified as vulnerable road users because they are so exposed to death and injury if hit by someone driving a vehicle.

In the past ten years more than 100 people have lost their lives or suffered a serious injury while riding a bicycle in Tasmania. A serious injury involves 24 hours or more of hospitalisation.

The majority of serious crashes involving people riding involve motor vehicles and while not all crashes are the fault of drivers, when a crash happens it’s the person on the bicycle who suffers the most.

To better address the causes of crashes for different users, we recommend that a unique set of targets for motor vehicle drivers and vulnerable road users be adopted.

Reducing fatal five can help riders

Some of the main reasons for vehicle-on-vehicle crashes also apply for crashes with people on bicycles. We need to reduce distracted driving, speeding, drug and alcohol use and fatigue if we are going to make it safer for people riding on roads as well as all other road users.

Many of us are aware of people behind the wheel fiddling with their dashboards or checking their phones while driving. When drivers are distracted they are effectively ‘travelling blind’, which causes significantly large areas of the road space to become hazardous for other road users.

To counter mobile phone use, cameras have been developed that capture drivers using their mobile phones as well as speeding and issue fines. These are already being used in New South Wales and could be implemented in Tasmania to reduce the number of drivers doing the wrong thing.

There is also a need for road safety campaigns and improved driver testing to reinforce the need for drivers to pay attention at all times to the road and all its users.

Speeding is a great risk for people on bicycles. A person hit by a vehicle travelling at 30 km/h has a 90% chance of survival, at 40 km/h it’s 60% and at 50 km/h it’s 10%.

Bicycle Network has long supported reducing speed limits to 30 km/h in situations where there are likely to be vulnerable road users such as urban centres, school zones and school buses.

Making trucks safer

Nearly one-quarter of crashes where bike riders die in Australia involve heavy vehicles, and this statistic has not changed for the past 20 years.

Drivers of freight vehicles have numerous blind spots and people walking and riding are often not aware of where these blind spots are. The consistency of these crashes over the long term highlights that we have not solved the problem.

We’d like to see more safety devices on heavy vehicles that reduce these blind spots, better protect riders if they are hit and alert drivers to people in their blind spots. Education campaigns for people riding and walking are also needed so they don’t put themselves in the blind spot danger zones.

Shoulder sealing

Widening and sealing shoulders on major roads would help drivers to retain control of their vehicles when they veer out of their lanes, as well as providing a space in the road reservation for people riding away from vehicles.

Too many of Tasmania’s major roads have unsealed or very narrow sealed shoulders with high posted speed limits and are missing the rumble strip or audible edge marking that alert drivers who veer out of their lane.

Enforcing passing distance

Anecdotally, riders tell us that the majority of drivers are obeying the minimum passing distance law. However, there is a small number of drivers who consistently pass much too close to riders and risk a crash occurring.

The onus is on bike riders to equip themselves with the technology to be able capture a driver passing too close and then to rely on police prosecutors to decide whether the case could stand up in court before a driver is charged.

In the United Kingdom, where these laws have been in place for longer, police forces actively enforce minimum passing distance laws through Operation Close Pass activities. They do this through footage taken from police cars or motorbikes, or send police officers out on bicycles with the technology and backup to catch drivers who are breaking the law.

There is scope in Tasmania to enact enforcement campaigns to ensure drivers are giving enough distance, similar to campaigns around speeding, distraction and drug and alcohol usage. Education campaigns should continue to be rolled out to keep reminding drivers of the importance of these laws.

Separated cycling infrastructure

One of the most effective interventions to protect people riding is to separate them as much as possible from larger vehicles.

A wealth of evidence shows that cities with high bike riding volumes have better road safety outcomes and that this is associated with the installation of separated infrastructure

Separated infrastructure should be at the forefront of current and future road projects and as stand-alone road safety projects in their own right.

While there is Austroads advice to separate people on bicycles from vehicles once traffic volumes and speed reach a certain point, very few places in Tasmania do so.

This infrastructure matrix was recently updated for Austroads by the Melbourne-based Institute for Sensible Transport, making it clearer that protected or separated cycleways are key for most road environments.

This is advice only, leaving councils and state government to adopt different approaches across the state. It would benefit everyone if the Tasmanian Government issued Tasmanian guidelines on the types of cycling infrastructure that should be built in different road environments, and practical advice on how to build that infrastructure.

The Tasmanian government does not have a dedicated funding stream for such infrastructure, with project funding and one-off cycling infrastructure funds announced during election campaigns and varying in size each time. There needs to be an ongoing fund to retrofit separated cycling infrastructure to state and council-owned roads

The post Road safety that helps people riding appeared first on Bicycle Network.

Trials are underway that use pupil scanning to detect tired drivers’ levels off distraction.

Drivers travelling on just three hours sleep are ten times more likely to be involved in a crash.

Supported by Road Safety Victoria and the TAC, the trial kept participants awake for up to 32 hours before a two-hour drive on a controlled track, supervised by a qualified instructor in a dual-controlled vehicle.

They then took three further drive tests – after three and five hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, and again after eight hours of sleep.

Drivers were tested before and after their drive with a scanner that measures involuntary movement of their pupils – which has shown strong links to increased levels of sleep deprivation, leading to less focused and more distracted drivers.

The study also collected a range of behavioural, physiological and driver performance data like brain electrical activity, lane deviations, speed variations and changes in reaction time to show the effects of excessive fatigue on a driver.

The results of the study, funded by an $850,000 grant by the Victorian Government, will be analysed to inform how the trial could be implemented in real-world settings, with the potential to conduct roadside testing to identify and support drivers who are on the roads while excessively fatigued.

Current figures show fatigued drivers are involved in up to 20 per cent of crashes and 11 per cent of fatalities on Victorian roads.

Road Safety Victoria is leading the study in partnership with the Transport Accident Commission, working closely with Monash University, Victoria Police and the Cooperative Research Consortium for Alertness.

Monash University Associate Professor Clare Anderson said: “The risk of a crash increases significantly with lack of sleep – and this trial has demonstrated that it is possible to reliably detect excessively fatigued drivers in a roadside context.”

The post Eyes reveal drowsy drivers’ secrets appeared first on Bicycle Network.

The three-month trial began in July 2020, during Victoria’s heaviest coronavirus restrictions, with two portable cameras assessing 679,438 vehicles at a number of metropolitan and regional locations.

The highest rates of distracted driving were on busy and arterial roads in Melbourne’s fringe including:

• Craigieburn Road East in Wollert with a one-in-18 offence rate
• Calder Park Drive in Hillside with a one-in-21 offence rate
• Old Geelong Road in Laverton with a one-in-28 offence rate

No infringement notices were handed out to drivers during the trial phase, however once the full set of cameras are in force fines will be dished out similar to that of roadside speed cameras.

Bicycle Network welcomes Victoria joining other states in introducing cameras that can detect distracted driving and is not surprised at the high rate of phone use detected during the trial.

People riding bikes have an easy view inside cars and regularly see eyes pointed down at screens, with a 2019 survey of Bicycle Network members and bike riders finding 35.7 per cent of bike riders see distracted driving every time they ride.

This is why police usually ride bicycles when enforcing mobile phone use as they can see more than they could if they too were driving a car.

The mobile phone cameras will make it easier for police to enforce distracted driving on arterial roads, such as those listed above, however there would still be benefits if cops on bikes patrolled streets with high numbers of pedestrians and bike riders.

Drivers who use a mobile phone while driving are four times more likely to cause a fatal road crash. Research from Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) has estimated this technology has the capacity to prevent 95 casualty crashes per year.

Just a brief peek at a mobile phone or device makes you travel blind for huge distances.

The cameras will be rolled on to roads by 2023, with stakeholder consultation, demos and awareness campaigns to happen first.

The cameras use an artificial intelligence-enabled system to capture high-resolution images of passing vehicles in all traffic and weather conditions – day and night. Images that are deemed likely to contain a mobile phone offence are then verified by appropriately trained personnel. The cameras are also able to detect if seatbelts are not being used.

Click here to see Bicycle Network’s distracted driving campaign page

The post Distracted driving cameras confirmed for Victoria appeared first on Bicycle Network.

Free running traffic resulted in more distracted driving.

New data from the United States shows that collisions per million kilometres traveled increased 67% during lockdown.

And 57% of all crashes involved phone use prior to impact.

Nearly 17% of all crashes involved phone use 5 seconds immediately prior to impact.

Nearly one in every five crashes can be directly attributed to a phone-related distraction.

The data was assembled by Zendrive, a US firm that has technology in many GPS and phone apps used for navigation and other services.

It analysed 300 billion kilometres of driving and 86,000 crashes between January and November.

The collision data indicated that 17% of all crashes involved speeding, 75% involved hard breaking and 57% involved phone use.

The data shows that the duration of phone usage while driving, at an aggregate level, has went down. However, there was an alarming increase in phone usage frequency.

In other words drivers across the U.S. may not have been using their phone for longer durations but they were using their phone more frequently.

The report also identified a 36% increase in rapid acceleration events between January and November, presumably as reduced congestion created more opportunities for risk taking.

Other studies have shown that using a mobile phone reduces brain activity associated with driving by 37 per cent.

The post The COVID impact: fewer cars, more bad driving appeared first on Bicycle Network.

In an Australian first, Crime Stoppers NSW is asking fellow road users to report anyone they see partaking in “the Four Ds” referenced above, all unacceptable behaviours that contribute to death on our roads.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said when launching the campaign: “Everyone deserves to enjoy the Christmas and New Year periods with their families without tragedy or chaos and we can all play a role when it comes to safety on our roads.” 

Minister for Roads Andrew Constance added: “We’ve already seen far too many people killed and seriously injured on our roads this year and we need everyone in the community to help us put a stop to the tragedy and trauma.”

Over 280 people have died on NSW roads already this year.

Crime Stoppers NSW CEO Peter Price AM stressed the importance of this community-lead campaign.

“Never before have we asked the community to report these crimes and NSW Crime Stoppers is the first, not only in Australia, but around the world, to initiate this campaign,” Mr Price said.

“This is one of the most important campaigns we have ever embarked upon. These traffic issues are an offence and these offences often lead to innocent people being injured or killed which is absolutely devastating for their families.”

The following tips were provided to help road users report the Four Ds without jeopardizing their own safety:

1. Use a passenger to record the time of the incident and the registration of the driver’s vehicle.
2. If possible, keep dashcam vision of the incident and provide it to Crime Stoppers (NSW) or police.
3. If it’s an emergency – where there is a threat to life or someone’s safety – please call Triple Zero (000) through a passenger, hands-free, or pull over somewhere safe.
4. If it’s not an emergency, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

This comes only a few weeks after Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance announced changes to the road safety laws to stamp out drink and drug driving. 

These included harsher penalties for those caught drink and drug driving from next year as well as the removal of speed camera warning signs over the next 12 months.

“This is about changing culture and changing behaviour. We’ve seen it happen with our world leading mobile phone detection program, where the rate of people offending has steadily declined. No warnings signs mean you can be caught anywhere, anytime and we want that same culture around mobile speed cameras,” Mr Constance said.

With people who ride bikes being some of the most vulnerable road — forced to mingle with 1 tonne vehicle with often inadequate room to operate — Bicycle Network commends this firm stance on making the road a safer place for all users.

We urge everyone to be safe, sensible and think of others on the roads this summer.

The post Major crackdown on reckless driving in NSW appeared first on Bicycle Network.

Operation Saturn ran throughout Victoria between 22 October and 8 November, targetting dangerous driving that can cause crashes and trauma.

Using a mobile phone while driving makes people four times more likely to cause a fatal road crash, putting not only those driving, but also people riding bikes and walking at risk.

On average, 37 people are killed while riding a bike in Australia every year, a number that has not decreased for more than two decades.

During that time, mobile phone use has been at the centre of too many tragic, avoidable deaths. From Anthony Marsh who was killed by Silvia Ciach on the Bellarine Peninsula in 2001, to professional cyclist Jason Lowndes who was killed by Billie Rodda who had sent and received 18 text messages in the lead up to a crash in December 2017.

Bicycle Network General Manager of Public Affairs and Marketing, Anthea Hargreaves, said that as we acknowledge National Road Safety Week this week, these figures show that people need to take responsibility and put the phone down.

“We’re asking people to make the pledge the put away distractions and make the pledge to put away their mobile phone while driving.”

“Every person who rides a bike in Australia deserves to get home safely. We need to protect every life.”

By not using your phone at all you keep your eyes on the road and alert to what is happening around you. Just the briefest of looks at a phone or device makes you travel blind for huge distances.

Just a brief peek at a mobile phone or device makes you travel blind for huge distances.

As well as asking people to put their phones down while driving, Bicycle Network continues to call on governments to increase enforcement and implement technologies that can stop people from using and being distracted by devices while driving.

The current fine for driving with a mobile phone in Victoria is $496. 

Operation Saturn also caught 413 people drink-driving and 487 people with drugs in their system.

National Road Safety Week 2020

National Road Safety Week is running from 15 to 22 November 2020 and highlights the the impact of road trauma and ways to reduce it.

By not speeding, not driving while tired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs and not using phones behind the wheel, we can drive so others survive.

The post 800 drivers cop distraction fines appeared first on Bicycle Network.

A three-month trial starts this week, however no fine will be issued during this period.

It is puzzling why a trial is needed when these technologies are already in use in other jurisdictions.

Any bike rider on the street would regularly observe drivers using mobile phones with impunity when driving.

That is why the best method of detection is cops on bicycles because they are on the streets where riders and pedestrians are most at risk, whereas the cameras are suited to arterials and freeways where those most at risk are other drivers, probably also using mobile phones illegally.

In 2017-18 more than 30,000 motorists were issued with fines for using a mobile phone while driving in Victoria. Drivers and motorcyclists involved in distraction-related crashes may make up at least 11 per cent of road fatalities.

The government says drivers who use a mobile phone while driving are four times more likely to cause a fatal road crash.

Texting, browsing and emailing increase the crash risk even further—up to ten times.

The trial will ensure the technology operates accurately and is appropriate for use on Victorian roads before a potential rollout.

The cameras allow high-resolution images to be captured in all conditions, regardless of weather and light levels, and for those images to be reviewed in real time to detect potential offences.

If formally introduced to Victorian roads, the technology will be able to operate from any location, 24 hours a day, in all conditions.

“Testing will focus on a relocatable version of the technology across several metropolitan and regional locations and will be conducted by the technology provider, Acusensus, and the current traffic camera services contractor,” the announcement said.

“As well as capturing drivers illegally using their mobile phones while driving, the cameras will be tested for possible future use to crack down on other dangerous driver behaviour on Victorian roads, including not wearing a seatbelt.

“No infringements will be issued during the pilot and number plate matching will not be undertaken. All photographs captured will be deleted, except for a limited number of de-identified images.

“The trial will help understand how the technology can be integrated with the existing road safety camera systems and ensure the cameras operate effectively and accurately, so fines issued under a full rollout are appropriate.”

Minister for Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll said: “We know how dangerous it is to use your phone while driving—that’s why we’re trialling this new technology to help stamp out this irresponsible behaviour.”

See our distracted driving campaign

Bicycle Network has long campaigned for tougher legislation and enforcement of distracted driving.

A survey of members and bike riders in 2019 found that 35.7 per cent of people see distracted driving every time they ride a bike.

A submission made by Bicycle Network to the National Transport Commission recommended the roll out of camera technology to enforce distracted driving rules.

The post Phone distraction crackdown appeared first on Bicycle Network.

Deaths and hospitalisations among drivers over 65 are rising. Deaths in that age group were at 21% of the total in 2018, up from 15% just a decade earlier.

Many older drivers over-estimate their skills and get pretty testy when family or friends tap them on the shoulder with the suggestion that their time behind the wheel might be up.

Medical professionals, who are in a better place to make authoritative judgements, and have powers to refer impaired drivers to the authorities, shy from the responsibility.

Even so, tens of thousands of drivers who do not have the abilities that their licences says they should, are detected and removed from the roads each year.

An on-road driving test is the criterion standard for evaluating the safety of older drivers, but that is a slow and expensive process. And it often comes long after those drivers showed signs of impairment.

Now a group of Australian researchers has developed a set of off-road screening tools that detect evidence of critical skills impairment without the need for a driving test.

And more importantly, they have scientifically validated their screening methods against real world driving tests. It’s a close match.

Cognitive impairment and visual impairment are two functions that have the largest effect on safety among older drivers, and can be difficult to evaluate.

The research team, based at the University of New South Wales, used a group of eight different assessment techniques to evaluate 560 older drivers.

The combination of various assessments was suitably accurate in predicting the result of the subsequent driving test. One assessment, the Multi-D computer based test, was the best predictor.

“The results of this study address a critical gap in the evidence on older driver assessment,” the researchers said. “Our findings demonstrate that it is possible to screen older drivers using off-road tests.

“This is highly significant because this approach would save the cost and time of an on-road driving assessment for many drivers.

“With populations ageing, many countries lack sufficient resources to provide on-road driving assessments.

“The use of an objective assessment battery relieves physicians of the need to make subjective or clinical judgement about fitness to drive.”

The researchers said that further research is required to evaluate the frequency at which older drivers require assessment and to identify cutoffs for safety in specific driving populations.

“Quantification of crash risk associated with different levels of performance could be possible if large, prospective studies were conducted with these screening tests measured at baseline. Future research could also provide health economic evaluations of screening tools for older drivers.”

See the study results here.

The post New hope for an old problem: impaired driving appeared first on Bicycle Network.

Using a driver simulator equipped with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, the research subjects were assigned a number of in-car control tasks to undertake via the touch screen, and by voice.

It was a surprise just how much time drivers’ attention was diverted by the series of glances needed to operate the screen.

Among the worst outcomes were a mean of 20 seconds of cumulative glances using Android Auto to play a song on Spotify, and of 16 seconds to set up the route to a restaurant with CarPlay.

For voice commands those means fell to four and three seconds respectively.

The study found that controlling the vehicle’s position in the lane, keeping a consistent speed and headway to the vehicle in front, and reaction to a stimulus on the road ahead suffered significantly when using touch control.

Reaction time when using touch screens to select music on Spotify was worse than texting while driving.

Participants also underestimated the time they thought they spent looking away from the road when engaging with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay via touch control.

Participants were able to keep their eyes on the road more when using voice control than touch control, and were more likely to identify stimuli that required attention.

Despite this, most participants reported using touch rather than voice control in their real-world driving.

Previous research has indicated that Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are improvements on infotainment systems that had been brought to market by vehicle manufacturers.

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