Phone detectors to be used in two police force area's

radar2018

I not only use CarPlay connected to my phone, I also have wifi device in the car this would be using 4G sim card

enigma1701

This is very similar to new signs that have been put in a road near me. The newly installed signs flash about the 2 second gap between cars, totally ignored by all drivers. So this is yet another waste of money.

Reminds me of how useful having signs at train stations in Gaelic and police Scotland updating all the vehicles because obviously police isn't police in Gaelic!

Over by there

Police actually stopping people would be good but a bit political at the moment. There is no fear of consequence meaning many people will see it as not an issue. That is until they kill someone then they will try to deny they were ever on the phone. It needs the same stigma as drink driving.

nvingo

The lorry driver whose incab video was shown on the news, of just before he collided with a car killing the occupants, was using his phone connected by a cable (not sure if that was power or audio) as a music player.
Distracted as he was, because of the cable he had to reach further to operate it, but it wouldn't have been transmitting Bluetooth.
But for his use the device could have been an iPod or other music player with no phone capability, so wouldn't cause these signs to operate.

Bottom line for me, just because the device being used happened to be a mobile phone that its purpose could have been entirely satisfied by an mp3 player doesn't make his action equivalent to making a voice call on even a handheld phone.

zeppelino

It’s a start, albeit a very feeble one.

Over by there

If the tech is provable, detectors are a thing but in this form factor? If it is real then it will probably be improved. Interested to know how it detects and at what range, how aerials are placed, types etc.

They could just clear up the legal side and tell the lobbyists to take a running jump.

outoftheknow

AS I understand it BT usable range is limited to about  10 metres to be called BT. The detector can’t pick up what isn’t there so maybe the BT wireless frequency(ies) is/are detectable at a bit more than 10 metres (but unusable as a connection)?

(Do you still have 2G here? All turned off in Australia.)

outoftheknow

Also using Car Play or Android Auto or even BT  doesn’t stop the phone operating as a phone in any way? You make a call or use and app from the screen and the phone uses the mobile connection to/from the tower.

So all it can detect is that a phone is turned on in a car and is transmitting (receiving?) the mobile GSM frequencies? Doesn’t even sound promising let alone useful if that is what it is detecting.

Surely the offence is similar to the one in Australia? Touching a mobile Phone (including using the body/shoulder/between the legs as a rest) whilst driving? What frequencies it is or isn’t using and passengers making calls etc is irrelevant back home. You need a cop with a MK1 eyeball or two or photos/videos. This 007 detection stuff is simply a waste of time and money if all it does is provide a warning that the idiot using a phone while driving shouldn’t be.

ChuckMountain

Whilst I agree with the principle of what they are trying to do I can't see this particular solution being any help to either an observer or camera recording other than reduce the number of checks.

It's going to generate so many false positives as a lot of newer cats have built in 3/4g SIM cards and that are talking home quite a bit.

outoftheknow

I suppose as they are mobile phone detectors there won’t be any false positives. If a mobile phone is in use in a car the detector detects that. A car SIM card maybe can’t display the warning message anyway but even if it doesn’t so what? As I said it serves no purpose as far as I can tell to enforce an actual law.