Traffic cameras in Moscow issued 2.7 thousand fines for using a phone while driving

Since the beginning of 2021, several traffic cameras with the "Safety" module installed in Moscow have recorded 2,693 cases of drivers using phones while driving. This was reported on the Telegram channel of the capital's transport department.

"A 5-word message lasts about 10 seconds. A car driving at 100 km/h will travel 280 meters in that time. That's a distance long enough to not notice a pedestrian or an unexpected obstacle while driving "blindly" and not have time to react. <...> This behavior puts you and everyone else on the road at risk. Inattention can result in death. Please be responsible and don't get distracted by your phone while driving," the message says.

The fine for using a telephone while driving, except in cases of conversation using a headset or speakerphone, is 1,500 rubles.

Let us recall that in early November last year, the Moscow Department of Transport reported that several traffic cameras would soon be operational in the capital that would be able to recognize drivers talking on the phone while driving or not wearing a seat belt. The presentation stated that the new cameras could take up to 25 frames per second and, using neural networks, were able to recognize the steering wheel, the driver's hands, and the seat belt in images, as well as instances of drivers violating the requirement to fasten a seat belt and the ban on using a phone. The exact launch dates for the new system were not given, but the Department of Transport noted that it had been tested in February of this year - the cameras recorded violations, but drivers were not issued fines at that time.

8 cameras with the "Safety" module and an algorithm for recognizing seat belts and phones were installed on the Third Transport Ring (Inner side of the Third Transport Ring, 2-ya Baumanskaya St., 5, building 5), the Garden Ring (inner side, opposite building 3, building 5 along Sukharevskaya Pl.), the North-Eastern Chord (building 19A, building 4 along 1-ya Izmailovskogo Zverinets St. and opposite building 23 along Okruzhny Proezd), Michurinsky Prospekt (near building 80), Zvenigorodskoye Shosse (near building 9 along 3-mu Silikatny Proezd), Proektiruemy Proezd 7031 (OOT "Letovo", Sosenskoye Settlement) and on Vernadsky Prospekt (building 7 in the direction to the center). They began operating in normal mode in December last year. Since then, drivers have been issued several thousand fines for not wearing seat belts. The fine for this violation is 1 thousand rubles.