AI traffic cameras spot more than 100 toddlers not wearing seat belts in Devon and Cornwall

Children were among more than 2,000 people detected by artificial intelligence (AI) cameras on three A-roads in the region between July and August. Credit: Vision Zero

Children were among thousands of people seen not wearing a seat belt by AI cameras on Devon and Cornwall roads.

The cameras caught unrestrained toddlers using tablets and children sitting on the laps of adults the front passenger seat.

Devon and Cornwall Police said 109 children were among more than 2,000 detected by artificial intelligence (AI) cameras on three A-roads in the region between July and August.

Between 25 July and 17 August, the AI cameras on the A388 between Saltash and Launceston, the A361 between Barnstaple and Braunton and the A38 near Landrake captured 2,239 seat belt offences.

AI cameras have caught unrestrained toddlers using tablets in the front passenger seat. Credit: Vision Zero

More than 800 mobile phone offences were detected in the same period, statistics from the road safety unit Vision Zero showed.

Head of Road Safety for Devon and Cornwall Police said he hopes the technology "will help send a clear message to the small minority of motorists who continue to flout the law".

“We continue to see serious and fatal collisions involving people who were not wearing seatbelts.

“There is also a problem with mobile phone use behind the wheel, which is both dangerous and illegal.

The force hopes the technology will send a "clear message" to motorists who "continue to flout the law." Credit: Vision Zero

“While we know the majority of drivers in Devon and Cornwall are safe, respectful and conscientious motorists, sadly there is a minority who are still putting people’s lives at risk.

“We are employing this new technology to send a clear message to anyone who continues to use their phone behind the wheel – you will get caught."

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, is also chairman of the Vision Zero South West road safety partnership.

Commissioner Hernandez said: “We know distracted driving is a common cause of collisions, which is exactly why it is illegal to use a mobile phone while driving.

“We also know that wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of death for drivers in a road collision by around 50% – yet almost a third of the people who died in UK car collisions in 2021 were not wearing a seat belt, the highest level recorded since recent records began."