3.5.25 – WUSA9 – ANNAPOLIS, Md.
Both counties have asked the General Assembly to try out new technology to deter distracted driving.
In Maryland, we already have red light and speed cameras: are distracted driving cameras far behind?
The Maryland legislature is considering creating a pilot program in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties to catch drivers on their cell phones.
In Colmar Manor, just outside D.C., there is a busy three-way stop that has people like Amaya Peterson’s attention.
“A lot of people be flying past here at the nighttime and stuff like that,” she said looking at the intersection.
It’s a concern across the state of Maryland, increased crashes from dangerous driving.
“The stats show that someone who’s texting while they drive,” Dhruv Maheshwari from Obvio, the AI traffic safety company explained. “It actually increases the risk of an accident by 23 times.”
Maheshwari’s company builds a number of different cameras, but their most recent one is designed to capture people playing more attention to their phones than driving
“As drivers drive by, you can actually see what what’s happening in the driver’s hands,” he explained. “It doesn’t actually capture any face or identifiable information.”
The cameras read the license plates and send that info to the police.
The cameras don’t issue tickets now, but in the nine locations spread around Montgomery County, they have already picked up 2,500 people on their phones a day.
“It’s almost 30% of people driving by were using their phones,” he said. “It’s more than we actually expected.”
“I proposed a bill that would allow for distracted driving cameras to cite folks similar to our speed cameras,” Montgomery County Democrat Sen. Jeff Waldestreicher said.
He and his Prince George’s County counterparts want to start the first citation pilot program.
“Because it’s a pilot program, it would start only with warnings,” he said. “So this is an attempt to test the technology to make sure it is ready for prime time.”
The bill they sponsored would apply just to Prince George’s and Montgomery County. Law enforcement would review the pictures, issue warnings and eventually issue tickets up to $40.”
That is an idea that Amaya Peterson thinks could be helpful at her Colmar Manor intersection, she isn’t worried about it being seen as surveillance.
“No, because I mean it’s not like your identity is exposed. I mean, and if you’re doing the right thing, you shouldn’t really care.
Amaya thinks it’s a good first step to stopping distracted driving.
But again, before the cameras can ever issue a ticket, the pilot program has to be approved by the General Assembly.