MOTORISTS from Cornwall heading up the M5 are being warned that cameras designed to catch drivers using mobile phones or failing to wear seatbelts will be deployed on the motorway for the first time.

The Acusensus cameras have already been used at locations across Cornwall, including Landrake, Callington and St Mawgan, as well as on stretches of the A38 and A30.

Now the technology is being extended to the M5 as part of an expanded road safety initiative covering the region's strategic road network until the end of April 2027.

The cameras have been used across Devon and Cornwall for four years as part of trials supported by Devon and Cornwall Police and the Vision Zero South West road safety partnership.

They capture overhead and front-facing images, using artificial intelligence and human reviewers to identify drivers using mobile phones or occupants failing to wear seatbelts.

Since their introduction, they have monitored 6.5-million vehicles and detected more than 8,500 offences, including more than 5,400 seatbelt offences and 3,100 involving mobile phones.

The data suggests the technology is changing driver behaviour. Camera sites record an average 50 per cent reduction in offences during a month, rising to an 80 per cent long-term reduction when cameras return to previously monitored locations.

Following the results, National Highways has agreed to extend the initiative, which will continue to cover the A38 and A30, while adding the M5 for the first time.

Still image taken by the Acusensus AI camera system this year in Cornwall of someone using their phone whilst driving
Still image taken by the Acusensus AI camera system this year in Cornwall of someone using their phone whilst driving (Vision South West)

Adrian Leisk, Devon and Cornwall Police’s head of road safety, said fewer than one per cent of vehicles monitored by the cameras had been detected committing offences.

He said: “The vast majority of motorists are complying with the rules – in fact, less than 1 per cent of the vehicles we monitored using the Acusensus cameras were detected as committing offences.

“Using a mobile phone behind the wheel significantly increases your chances of being involved in a serious collision – particularly on high-speed roads where traffic might suddenly slow – and motorists not wearing seatbelts are twice more likely to die than those who wear one.”

Mr Leisk said a minority of drivers continued to ignore the law and put other lives in danger.

Jack Mason, National Highways' South West road safety manager, said road safety was a shared responsibility and its ambition, as part of Vision Zero South West, was that nobody should be harmed while travelling or working on the roads.

Geoff Collins, UK general manager of Acusensus, said the technology was improving behaviour, with fewer drivers distracted by phones and more occupants wearing seatbelts correctly.

The expansion comes as Devon and Cornwall has recorded year-on-year reductions in people killed or seriously injured on its roads over the past four years, with the latest figures reaching an historic low.

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and chair of Vision Zero South West, said more work was needed despite the encouraging figures.

She said: “We need everyone to be at their very best when using our roads. No one wants to answer the door to a police officer bringing them tragic news about a family member or loved one.”