Could this device stop you looking at your phone while driving?
New technology out of Canberra will alert drivers when they are distracted and even stop their car.
The Fovio system has been developed by a company called Seeing Machines and enables cars to monitor drivers and prevent accidents caused by distraction.
"Distracted driving is Australia is utterly rampant, it is killing thousands of Australians every year and the problem is getting worse," said Chief Executive Officer at Transport Accident Commission, Joe Calafiore.
"[It is] fair to say technology actually started this problem and the reality is technology will be called on to fix it."
The system constantly scans a driver’s face and knows when you are looking at the road, your phone or the GPS.
Seeing Machines chief scientist Professor Mike Lenn, said the system is so sensitive it can almost predict when your concentration will lapse.
"The technology actually measures where you are looking with your eyes. It measures your head position and the position of your eyelids," Professor Lenn said.
"This technology knows that you are about to use your phone almost before you do."
Within a year Fovio will be installed in a new range of cars produced by a major U.S. manufacturer and is expected to arrive in Australian models soon.
Calafiore claimed younger drivers are the ones most in need of the system’s intervention.
"Young people are always the most at risk on our roads because they are [the] least experienced,” Calafiore said.
"They [young people] absolutely love their technology and their phones, but you put that combination into a car [and] it’s a lethal combination and it is having tragic consequences every single day."
The system is also designed to stop tragedies like the one that claimed the life of Brad Kelley's partner Josh Doyle, 22, his 16-year-old sister Jessica and his mother-in-law Bev.
A 65-year-old farmer who failed to give way caused a truck to slam into their four-wheel drive.
"My legs couldn’t move. So I dragged myself around the back of the car to see if everyone was all right and no-one was alright," Brad Kelly said.
"I could tell from the impact that no-one was going to be alive."
The farmer Alexander Wooldridge had a clean driving record and pleaded guilty to four counts of death by dangerous driving and one of causing serious harm.
He was initially jailed for two years but appealed and was freed after serving just 82 days – less than three months.
Darren Doyle was husband to Michelle and father to Josh and Jessica.
"It just makes me wild like this man took four lives, he admitted he had taken his eyes off the road. He was looking at his GPS and he has taken four lives," he said.
"People say I understand what you’re going through but they don’t know one does. I can’t come home at night now and give my kids a kiss and my wife a kiss. I can’t do any of that."
