Saxony wants to enforce mobile phone ban at the wheel with cameras and drones

The Saxon government is pushing ahead with a reform of the Police Act that is intended to enable the use of modern surveillance technology for the prosecution of traffic offenses. Drivers who unlawfully use mobile phones or tablets without a hands-free system at the wheel currently face a fine of 100 euros and one point in Flensburg. However, the practical apprehension of such mobile phone offenders often proves difficult for the police.

The amendment to the Police Enforcement Act, which was initiated by the cabinet in October, is intended to facilitate this work according to the Sächsische Zeitung with technical support, as the conventional surveillance methods of traffic police involve high personnel and material costs. The minority coalition of CDU and SPD therefore relies on a clear educational effect of relevant devices: the open use of technical means is intended to have a greater deterrent effect and sharpen drivers' awareness of compliance with the rules.

According to the report, the draft stipulates that the police may technically enforce the ban on mobile phones at the wheel on certain sections of road, traffic junctions, or accident hotspots. This explicitly includes unmanned aerial systems such as drones. Image recordings and transmissions of vehicles and drivers are to be permitted even before an offense has been committed.

Brandenburg swears by drones

According to the plan, the vehicle, license plate, direction of travel, time and place, as well as the driver themselves, may be recorded. The executive branch does not want to completely disregard data protection: If the evaluation of the images does not reveal any indication of an offense, the image data must be deleted immediately. Only if the recordings can prove the use of a mobile phone may they be used for a fine procedure.

The responsible Interior Ministry has left open which technical means are to be used. Other federal states have already made decisions. For example, Rhineland-Palatinate has long relied on Monocams for special cameras that capture drivers through the windshield, usually from bridges. Software analyzes the images and saves recordings that suggest an offense. These are then evaluated by an officer. Traffic signs indicate the presence of these electronic eyes.

Drones are also conceivable as an alternative, such as those used in Brandenburg since 2021. The Interior Ministry there uses the flying objects, for example, from a fixed position on motorways. The police can use them, for instance, to catch truck drivers who tailgate. If a tailgater is caught, a patrol waiting nearby must stop the vehicle. The cost for three of these devices is 135,000 euros.

Even more surveillance powers

Although, according to last year's official road accident statistics, mobile phone use was only the cause of 36 accidents – compared to over 1800 accidents due to speeding or over 1600 due to insufficient safety distance – such offenses are usually difficult to prove with conventional means after accidents.

The state chairman of the Police Union (GdP), Jan Krumlovsky, already called for the acquisition of Monocams in the summer. The GdP now regrets that the planned image recordings by drone or camera are to be limited to the prohibited act of reaching for a smartphone at the steering wheel. According to the union, the technology should also be used to prosecute other traffic offenses such as insufficient safety distance, disregard of right-of-way rules, incorrect turning, and red-light violations.

Other key points of the draft include controversial powers for the preventive use of state Trojans for source telecommunications surveillance, for "intelligent video surveillance" at crime hotspots, and for covert automated license plate recognition. Furthermore, law enforcement officers are to be allowed to conduct automated data analyses and to defend against hostile drones using lasers, jammers, or GPS jammers, for example.

(mho)