Law enforcement agencies around the world are utilizing AI to make roadways safer.

Distracted driving is one of the biggest safety issues facing drivers today, and new AI-powered traffic cameras are helping police officers catch unsafe drivers.

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Here’s how the cameras work, and why their use is quickly spreading. 

“Heads Up” cameras from Australia-based Acusensus take a picture of every driver that passes by – both the license plate and the front seat. Cameras can either be fixed in a permanent location or attached to a mobile trailer and work in almost any light or weather condition.

AI analyzes the photos to see if drivers are looking at their phones or not wearing seat belts; it then assigns a confidence level regarding how certain it is that there’s a violation. (If you’re concerned about privacy issues surrounding a stockpile of photos, the company says that all images are deleted after 15 minutes if authorities don’t take action.)

Human discretion is still a part of the process, however, and tickets aren’t sent automatically. If the AI flags an image, an alert pops up on an officer’s computer screen. The officer reviews the image to determine whether or not an offense has occurred. 

If they decide the driver was distracted, officers will either mail the vehicle’s registered owner a ticket or pull over the vehicle and issue a citation. 

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In Minnesota, one of the first locations in the US to adopt the technology (along with Georgia, North Carolina, and Arkansas), more than 100 people have been ticketed since the beginning of February.  A Minnesota patrol sergeant said he expects the cameras will detect “tens of thousands of distracted drivers by the end of February.”

A two-month trial in Manchester, England nabbed more than 3,200 people. The city of Philadelphia has adopted a similar program to catch cars parked illegally in bus lanes.