How Heptanode Helped Council Improve Mobile Phone Detection Camera Effectiveness (⏱️ 3 mins read)
Reducing distracted driving remains a critical road safety priority for councils across Australia. Mobile phone use while driving significantly increases the risk of serious accidents, making reliable detection and enforcement essential.
At Heptanode, we provided specialist consulting support to council to improve the effectiveness and success rate of mobile phone detection cameras, ensuring the technology delivered measurable safety outcomes while operating efficiently and fairly within the public road network.
The Challenge
While mobile phone detection cameras are a proven enforcement tool, their success depends on more than just installation. Council faced several operational challenges, including:
Variability in detection accuracy across different locations
Environmental factors such as lighting, road geometry, and traffic flow
Data quality issues affecting image clarity and evidence reliability
The need to maximise compliance outcomes while minimising false detections
Without targeted optimisation, these factors can reduce both enforcement efficiency and public confidence in the system.
Heptanode’s Consulting Approach
Heptanone applied a systems-based consulting approach, combining technical insight with operational and process expertise to improve overall camera performance. Our consulting work focused on optimising how the technology operated within real-world conditions rather than relying solely on off-the-shelf configuration.
Key areas of consulting support included:
Site performance assessment and advisory, identifying conditions impacting detection rates
Operational calibration and optimisation consulting, aligned with traffic patterns and road usage behaviour, without disruption to current installed hardware.
Process improvement consulting, strengthening how detection data was reviewed, validated, and escalated
Close collaboration with council teams, ensuring recommendations were practical, compliant, and scalable
This consulting-led approach enabled council to move from passive monitoring to an actively optimised enforcement system.
The Results
As a result of Heptanode’s consulting support, council achieved:
Improved detection accuracy, increasing the proportion of valid mobile phone use detections
Higher system reliability, with more consistent performance across camera locations
Greater enforcement confidence, supporting fair and defensible compliance outcomes
Stronger road safety impact, reinforcing behavioural change among drivers
By improving success rates at the system level, council was able to maximise the return on its existing infrastructure investment without unnecessary expansion or replacement.
Supporting Safer Roads Through Consulting Excellence
At Heptanode, we provide consulting services that bridge the gap between technology, operations, and real-world outcomes — because behind every data point is a person on the road. Our work with council shows how targeted consulting and informed decision-making can turn complex technology into practical tools that genuinely influence driver behaviour and improve safety.
By focusing on performance, reliability, and practical implementation, we help ensure road safety initiatives translate into safer daily journeys, fewer preventable incidents, and greater peace of mind for families, pedestrians, and drivers alike. The result is not just better-performing systems, but safer roads and stronger outcomes for the community as a whole.
Want to know more about how to embrace the value Management at your organisation?
Contact us at support@heptanode.com
