Beware the Smart Car in Staffordshire
Tuesday 28th July 2009, 8:00PM BST.
This little car might look sweet but it has a sting in the tail – the Smart Car has been equipped with CCTV cameras with the aim of catching drivers using their mobile phones and not wearing seat-belts.
The car is being trialled for a fortnight on the roads of Staffordshire and, if adopted, the images it captures will be used in prosecuting drivers.
As well as the roof camera, it features a camera logo on the doors and a “CCTV enforcement” message on the bonnet. The county council says the scheme is a life saving measure.
The county’s Safer Roads Partnership say the aim is to stop drivers using their mobile phones while driving.
The spy car has already started to appear at junctions to capture on film drivers, who are using their mobiles and not wearing seatbelts.
The new Conservative administration on the county council has trumpeted the scheme as a life saving measure.
Councillor Mike Maryon, the council’s cabinet member for road safety, said: “If you use your mobile while driving, you are four times more likely to crash.
“If you don’t wear your seatbelt, you are twice as likely to die. That’s why we are drafting in this new technology to test it out.
“It’s been used in Manchester, and the results look promising.
“Saving lives is a major manifesto promise for us, and this is another weapon in our armoury.”
The two-week pilot is under way and will assess if the equipment can deliver real road safety benefits.
If approved for active service, the images captured by the Smart Car will be used to prosecute drivers who flout the law.
Councillor Maryon added: “The Smart Car is very clearly marked. This is very much about raising awareness and changing behaviour, not about catching people out.
“We want drivers to think again before making that call.”
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Stop wasting our money!!
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If its to raise awareness then why will the footage be used to prosecute drivers, methinks another moneyspinner for our favourite council
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Just another attempt at controlling every aspect of our lives. The sole purpose of this car is not to save lives but to raise even more revenue.
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About time too. I am fed up with drivers flaunting the law by using their phones and driving. I’ve lost count of the times we have had to swerve to avoid an accident.
They should lose their licence!
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sneeky eh? you would think they could use the money catching murderers and stuff but noooooooooooooooooo!!!!
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I’m all for it!
The law banning the use of mobile phones whilst driving has been with us now for quite a while, but it seems that more and more people are totally ignoring it.
There is absolutly no excuse, none at all. Why should my family, myself or any other law abiding citizen be put at risk by these selfish people? anyone caught using their phone whilst driving should get the stiffest of penalties.
You wanna raise awareness and change peoples behaviour? then send em to jail thats how!!!
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About time something was done. The amount of drivers who flout the law using a mobile phone whilst driving is so unbelievable.
I hear on the radio advertising twitching on drivers who drop littler from their cars, so why not take the same attitude with drivers who use their phone whilst driving. It needs sorting!
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Well who’d of thunk it !.
I think it’s a fabulous idea, whenever I go out I must see 4 or 5 people on the phone whilst driving. Blatant disregard for the law of the land deserves punishment, irrespective of an additional disregard for safety on the roads. Fine them once, fine them twice and fine them thrice… You know it makes sense.
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Any fines may be challenged due to a requirement that needs signage to be present warning the public that they may be photographed, if you google pepipoo you will be able to find details about this being tried in the wirral area, also it would be a bit easy for the operator to look into peoples houses, how trustworthy are those who watch over us ?
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Poster No 9…
Have you actually looked at the picture or read the article.
And check your front garden :-)
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I’d much prefer MORE police patrols on our roads…..the eyes and ears of our roads, higher visibility, pulling drivers over, talking, advising and issuing tickets.
Surely this is a better method to ‘raise awareness’ than this faceless, Orwellian, cynical cash printing machine !!!
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Yet another cash cow for the Staffordshire “safety partnership”. It’s a shame they have yet to pay any attention to what makes Staffordshire roads so dangerous… namely the quality of the road surfaces which is now pretty much third world. Half the county appears to have had bodged resurfacing carried out this summer leaving loose gravel, hidden potholes, uneven surfaces and blocked gullies which now leave standing water on even 70mph dual carriageways.
Those involved in the “safety partnership” should be ashamed at their incompetence in failing to improve safety at all thorugh their sole focus on lining their own pockets. It’s about time we demanded the removal of the partnership and the management of both Staffordshire Police and Highways.
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Hardly a moneyspinner John. Don’t drive and use mobile, don’t pay. Don’t drive and fail to wear seatbelt, don’t pay.
Its not even as if the car will be stealthy – they are doing pretty much everything possible to say ‘obey the law’.
Some won’t – though enough times of being fined will tend to bring the message home for some.
Never get 100% compliance, but surely any easy to implement measures to reduce chances of accidents for the rest of us are good.
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I think it is a great idea!
All these people saying money should be spent elsewhere on policing – why not start at the root of problems – using your mobile whilst driving causes accidents & Deaths on the roads, the law needs to be looked in respect of the punishment for what happens when drivers are caught using them!
This really is what you call “SMARTer Policing!”
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only a couple of weeks back i saw some stupid woman pull up behind a que of traffic on that very road, as she was braking she had a phone in EACH hand and none on the wheel! this type of IDIOT needs taking off the road NOW!
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I saw this or one of the above car’s yesterday on the way in to Stafford town centre.
I have been sat at traffic lights with a police car one side of me and some numpty on his phone next to me while, looking at the copper and STILL carrying on using his phone… So i think some methods will work for different people – maybe a sly fine that comes through the door without knowing you’ve been caught may help?!
At the end of the day people know they run the risk of a fine when they get into their car and decide to use their phone / not wear seat belts. Im sure the people who do this would be the first to complain and start campaigning if an accident happened and it was due to another driver using their phone or not wearing their belt.
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People who don’t care about their own safety could give a damn about anyone elses. Thankfully there is now recognition that speed alone is not the issue.
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Brilliant idea the more idiots they catch will be more money to spend policing the streets. Bus lanes used to be abused years ago until they started cctv on them now they are free of cars maybe the fear of a FPN will have the same effect on those that continue to phone and text while in control of a vehicle.
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Bring that cute little car out here to the Middle East it would have a field day. Only Westerners wear seat belts out here. You would think that the locals here think their car wouldn’t go unless the driver held a phone to his ear or the seat belt when fastened would inhibit the engine. Common sense is the clue.
None out here though
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Funny how they got the guts to recognise drivers, but they don’t seem to do anything about yobs. Not a money-making scheme/scam/Partnership? Not a pretext to something more sinister? Pull the other one!
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