Mobile phone speed cameras: next step Scanning of environmental stickers?

Distracted driving, especially through mobile phone use, is considered one of the most frequent causes of road accidents. In Luxembourg, too, where it was the focus of a nationwide road safety campaign in June, many drivers had often been caught doing so. Now the Minister of Transport, François Bausch, is also considering using so-called mobile phone speed cameras in the Grand Duchy. Such devices are already in use in other regions, such as the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is precisely these developments and the latest innovations regarding the models currently on the market that the Ministry of Transport is following with interest. Should a tested model prove to be reliable - Bausch said in his answer to a parliamentary question - "the introduction of such a system in Luxembourg could indeed be considered".  

Among the most promising devices is the Monocam. The control camera has already been put to the test for a good month in Trier, not far from the Luxembourg border. Placed on a bridge above the traffic, it transmits data via live stream to the laptop of police officers in a control bus. Only if the image clearly shows an offence will it be saved and punished, according to the police. But even if that were true, the use of mobile phone speed cameras is still ultimately a question of data protection.  

The fact that a traffic camera first films all passing vehicles and in doing so takes pictures of drivers and licence plates without any reason has already triggered fierce criticism. From a legal point of view, it is not that simple either. In Rhineland-Palatinate, too, a special legal basis was needed to make the six-month pilot project possible. In Luxembourg, the legal situation is no different. At present, the evaluation of data collected by radar devices on mobile phone offenders while driving was not permitted. An adaptation of the legal provisions would have to be carried out if a data protection-compliant and automated sanctioning of traffic violations were to be approved by the government.  

Mobile phone speed cameras, especially if Luxembourg and other countries follow suit, could not only reduce the accident rate due to mobile phone use at the wheel. The technology could also prove useful in other areas of traffic enforcement, leading to more efficient enforcement of roadside checks. For example, new devices could help to detect missing environmental badges and report the vehicle accordingly. In this way, entry and traffic flow in environmental zones could remain more efficiently under the control of the responsible authorities. Just scanning the sticker could be enough. Before all this is possible, all doubts about data protection must be resolved. However, a balance between the safety of all road users and their right to privacy would not be easy to find.