The warnings are over: mobile phone cameras set to start biting motorists

After a year of watching and waiting, Canberra’s mobile phone detection cameras are about to strike.

Drivers snapped with a phone on their lap or in their hands by the overhead-mounted cameras will be issued an infringement and demerit points from Tuesday next week (20 February).

Using the device for messaging, social networking, accessing apps or the internet will cost you $632 and four demerit points, while “using or holding the device for any other reason” is $514 and three demerit points.

The day has been 12 months coming, since the first three transportable road safety cameras were introduced to Canberra’s roads in February 2023, along with a fixed camera on Hindmarsh Drive (near the Monaro Highway overpass) in June 2023 and another on Gungahlin Drive in November 2023.

The initial timeline was to hand out warnings from the middle of 2023 and issue the first fines from October, but this was extended in mid-June due to the sheer number of motorists caught using their phones while driving – 11,909 between February and June 2023.

Between the beginning of the new warning period on 3 November 2023 and now, more than 18,000 drivers have been detected using their phones.

That’s 63,000 since February last year, or an average of 180 drivers every day.

The warning period was also an opportunity to test the technology.

“We have a manual review of the referrals that get sent from the cameras to make sure that an offence is actually being committed, and we’re now ready to go,” Strategic Policy and Programs executive branch manager Kirra Cox said.

The ACT Government said the monthly numbers have been gradually dropping, but there are still too many offenders.

“Taking your eyes off the road for more than two seconds doubles the risk of a crash, with mobile phones often being the source of that distraction,” Ms Cox said.

“Now is the time to change bad habits, put your phone down and prioritise getting yourself and all road users home safely.”

According to the ACT’s road rules, drivers are forbidden from using a mobile device “while a vehicle is moving, or stationary, such as being stopped at traffic lights”.

“They cannot hold the device or operate any function of the device, including for video calling, texting, emailing, social media, web browsing or photography.”

And don’t think you can cheat by having the mobile device “resting on, or kept in place by, any part of their body such as their lap or leg, tucked between their leg and the seat, between their shoulder and ear, or an item on their lap” – that’s also illegal.

They can only be used for GPS or audio if they’re secured in a cradle or connected to the car’s infotainment system via Bluetooth. You can also make or receive calls on the same conditions.

There are more exceptions for taxi, rideshare or hire car drivers that allow them to touch their phone to accept or reject a job request through a dispatch system, “provided that the body of the mobile device is secured in a mounting affixed to the vehicle”.

To coincide with the first fines, the ACT Government is launching the fourth phase of a “comprehensive community education campaign” to highlight these rules and encourage drivers to “stop it or cop it”.

This will run across multiple paid media and outdoor signage channels, targeting drivers before they get in their car and during their commute.

As part of the next ‘ACT Road Safety Action Plan’, additional features will be added to the cameras from 2025 to enable them to detect speeding and seatbelt offences, as well as unregistered vehicles.

The government said there will be two checkpoints before any infringement notice is issued: one with Acusensors, which owns and operates the cameras, and one with Access Canberra.

For motorists who believe they’ve received one in error, instructions on how to apply to have an infringement withdrawn will be provided on the infringement notice.

For more information on the dos and don’ts of mobile phone use while driving, visit the ACT Government website.