The national transport agency is spending £350,000 on a pilot testing technology which identifies “distracted drivers” using smartphones or not wearing seatbelts.
04:30, 12 Feb 2026Updated 07:13, 12 Feb 2026
New AI cameras will catch Scots drivers who flout the law(Image: Acusensus/AECOM)
New AI ‘spy’ cameras will be rolled out on Scotland’s roads to catch drivers who break the law.
The national transport agency is spending £350,000 on a pilot testing technology which snares “distracted drivers” who use smartphones or fail to wear seatbelts behind the wheel.
Previous roll outs elsewhere in the UK have seen thousands of motorists caught out in a matter of days.
Transport chiefs said the trial was part of a plan to make the country’s roads the safest in the world.
But privacy campaigners slammed the use of AI technology on Scots roads, branding it “intrusive and creepy”.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We have committed to trialling distracted driver technology as we work towards our goal of making Scotland’s roads the safest in the world by 2030.
“This contract award is part of that ongoing work.
“Plans for the roll out of this technology are being finalised and will be announced in due course.”
Transport chiefs have awarded the contract for the pilot to Edinburgh-based firm AECOM, the only available firm to offer the technology, which would be used to “determine the scale and extent of specific driver behaviours”.
The company says it uses a unique combination of “AI hardware and software, as well as a team of our analysts, to identify any drivers using mobile phones or not wearing seatbelts”.
Images are taken and “algorithmically analysed in real time” with any potential violations being sent to a team of analysts to review and check.
It says: “In addition to directly deterring illegal and dangerous driving, the contextual data captured, such as traffic conditions and demographics, can be used to inform policies and develop targeted interventions, such as education to highlight the dangers of hands-free devices.”
Drivers can be fined up to £500 for not wearing a seatbelt, in addition to penalty points, and up to £1,000 and six penalty points for using a mobile phone.
The Department for Transport ran a trial of the kit across the UK in 2023, which featured some sites in Scotland.
Police forces previously piloting the cameras were Durham, Greater Manchester Police, Humberside, Staffordshire, West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Thames Valley Police, Sussex and Warwickshire.
In 2024, Transport for Greater Manchester said a total of 3,205 drivers or passengers were caught out on Greater Manchester roads over a five-week period.
Ultra-detailed, close-up images were released as part of the trial, capturing those risking innocent lives by breaking the law as they travel.
TfGM said the trial had helped gather data to understand the scale of the issue, which would then be used to guide future education campaigns and enforcement.
In August last year, Devon & Cornwall Police said about 50% more people had been caught not wearing seat belts as those fined for driving while using mobile phones.
It said 10,000 images collected by Artificial Intelligence cameras over the last 12 months had captured 6,000 people breaking seat belt laws and 4,000 drivers using phones.
It added a large proportion of those killed in road accidents in Devon and Cornwall who were not wearing seat belts were young people, aged 16 to 24.
The AA has previously warned that AI cameras must not become a substitute for traffic officers stopping suspect motorists who might also be drink driving – an offence that would not be recorded by simply snapping images.
And Jake Hurfurt, Head of Research and Investigations at privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said the new contract for Scotland must ensure intrusive surveillance is not used in the place of “human decision making”.
He said: “Drivers should not be monitored and potentially criminalised by AI-powered video analysis. This kind of surveillance is creepy and intrusive, and treats every driver it captures as a potential suspect.
“We should all be able to go about our lives without being analysed by faceless and unaccountable AI.
“The Information Commissioner has expressed concern about how the adoption of immature biometric surveillance tools could lead to discrimination. Public bodies need to be careful to ensure they are not using privacy-threatening algorithms in place of human decision making.”
But IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and Standards Nicholas Lyes said the pilot was a “positive step” for road safety in Scotland.
He said: “The use of AI cameras for mobile phone and seatbelt offences has already led to positive changes in behaviour where this has been trialled in south west England.
“We know that driver distraction and non-seatbelt use are considered part of the police’s ‘fatal five’ and clearly officers cannot always be in all places.
“Embracing new technology which keeps everyone safe is a positive step.”
