THE SCOTTISH Parliament is putting road safety first – with the help of new roadside cameras that can see right inside your vehicle. Using AI, the cameras will work out if you have your seatbelt on or you are using a mobile phone.

Fiona Hyslop, Scotland’s Transport Secretary, explained that not wearing a seatbelt and using a mobile phone are the two highest risk behaviours on Scotland’s roads. Drivers, their passengers and pedestrians or passers-by are all put at risk of injury or even death by this behaviour.

Ms Hyslop hopes the new cameras will help the Scottish Government improve road safety standards. They will be erected at 12 locations before the end of March. They will be used in a pilot exercise which will run for six months.

Acusensus, the company that designed the new cameras, is delighted. Their Geoff Collins hopes that the cameras will provide clear evidence of just how bad Scottish drivers are. He hopes that seeing the bad driving will encourage the government to change driving habits – resulting in fewer collisions and casualties.

The Scottish Government wants to make Scotland the safest in the world by 2030. If this AI experiment helps them do that, we can expect the AI camera technology to be rolled out across the UK, Europe – and beyond.

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