New safety cameras are being trialled on major roads in Wiltshire to catch drivers committing traffic offences.

The new mobile technology is being trialled by National Highways and will automatically detect motorists who are not wearing a seatbelt or using their mobile phones.

Wiltshire Police are one of ten forces across the country signed up for the trial, meaning the cameras could be used on the motorway or A-roads in the county.

Numerous drivers have reported seeing one of these cameras being set up on the M4 eastbound between junctions 17, at Chippenham, and 16, at Swindon.

National Highways was unable to release an official list of locations.

The new kit can be mounted to vehicles or trailers and has multiple cameras providing different angles of a car’s occupants, which are then processed using AI.

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: One of the new cameras being trialled across the countryOne of the new cameras being trialled across the country (Image: National Highways)

Images will be passed to police who are responsible for taking any further action.

Drivers can be fined £500 for not wearing a seatbelt and £1,000 for using a phone, on top of six penalty points.

National Highways first launched the system in 2021 and the trial is now being extended in partnership with AECOM ahead of a possible national roll-out.

National Highways’ head of national road user safety delivery, Matt Staton, said: “We know distracted driving and not wearing seatbelts were key factors in a high number of incidents that resulted in people being killed or seriously injured.

“Working with our police partners we want to reduce such dangerous driving and reduce the risks posed to both the drivers and other people.

“We believe using technology like this will make people seriously consider their driving behaviour.

“We will continue to invest in technology that could help make sure everyone using our roads gets home safe and well.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: One of the new cameras being trialled across the countryOne of the new cameras being trialled across the country (Image: National Highways)

The deployment of the technology has been managed by Dr Jamie Uff, the technical director at AECOM.

He added: “AECOM is really pleased to be continuing our work with National Highways, the police and camera suppliers.

“Our work to date has highlighted the scale of the issue, has shown that technology can play a valuable role, and that there is much still to be understood about driver behaviour given the new insights gained.

“Expanding the deployments and integrating data processing with police systems is an important step towards this technology making a significant contribution to road safety.”

The current trial began on February 19 and will run until March 2025.

There are also plans to fix the cameras to gantries to give unobscured views of all lanes.