‘No escape’: Dubai Police catch drivers using mobile phones even if cars are tinted

Erring motorists who think they can hide behind their tinted windows when they use their mobile phones while driving must think again. Smart and advanced cameras are now being used by authorities to detect various road safety violations, such as failure to wear seat belts and use of mobile phones — even if windshields are heavily tinted.

Maj-Gen Saif Muhair Al Mazrouei, director of the General Department of Traffic at Dubai Police, said on Friday that advanced smart traffic cameras recently identified serious cases of distracted driving. “In one instance, a driver was caught using two phones at once while driving, while another was seen reading a newspaper, obstructing the view of the road,” he added.

“The advanced systems are designed to detect various violations, such as not wearing seat belts, mobile phone usage, and other distractions from the road. Impressively, they can capture these violations even if the vehicle’s windscreen is tinted."

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Al Mazrouei reminded motorists that vehicles would be impounded for up to 30 days for multiple traffic offences, including the use of mobile phones while driving, tailgating, and sudden deviation. The 30-day impoundment will be an additional penalty to fines of between Dh400 and Dh1,000 and four black points for these offences.

Advanced photo technology

Explaining the technology to Khaleej Times, Youssef Al Hansali, CEO of Vitronic Machine Vision, said: “The smart camera system is capable of detecting if a motorist uses a mobile phone via advanced photo technology coupled with artificial intelligence.”

“A front-facing photo of the violating motorist is taken and processed by the UAE authorities for further action. It is important to understand that the system works very well from the front, but also from the side angle, and it is even able to penetrate tinted car windows,” added Al Hansali, whose company “has installed a variety of cutting-edge enforcement systems in the UAE".

He said the country has witnessed a rapid deployment of various forms of smart traffic enforcement in the last couple of years. “The technologies utilised today are: front speed cameras, rear speed cameras, cameras detecting mobile phones, cameras detecting seat belt, as well as cameras used to detect lack of safe distance, lane discipline, and crossing red light.”

He added cameras can also be used for traffic management solutions like city tolling, optimising traffic flow and accessing data for infrastructure build-up.

Al Hansali reiterated: “The incorrect use of the mobile phone while driving is the main cause of distracted driving but the good thing is authorities have the technical capabilities to detect the use of mobile phones while driving.”

'20 times more likely to crash'

Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of Road Safety UAE, earlier told Khaleej Times: “Those texting while driving are 20 times more likely to be involved in a crash.”

• '20 times more likely to crash': Why Dubai's new penalty for distracted driving is 'necessary'