POLICE are using tiny Smart cars with telescopic spy cameras to catch drivers breaking the law.

The surveillance operation is the first of its kind in the country.

The two new cars are fitted with a camera on the end of an extendable mast. They can see into cars and catch motorists using their mobile phones or eating at the wheel.

Drivers who are caught using their mobiles will be sent a £60 fine and will get three points on their licence. Those caught on camera without a seatbelt or driving erratically while eating will get a £30 fine.

Anyone who refuses to accept the fine could be hauled before the courts. The cash will go the Treasury like all motoring fines.

Road safety chiefs say distracted motorists have been involved in 406 accidents across the region in the past two years. Twenty five people have been killed or seriously injured.

Drivers using mobile phones were blamed for 51 of the crashes. But one motorists' campaign group says the spy cars are a 'step too far' and an 'infringement' of drivers' liberty.

Nigel Humphries, from the Association of British Drivers, said: "This is a total infringement. They might as well put something in cars to test what drivers are thinking – to see if they are concentrating on the road or thinking about something else.

'No excuse'

“Apart from that it’s going to be counter-productive. There’s no excuse for not having police officers watching the road to look out for motorists who are driving erratically.

“You can tell if someone is driving erratically from some distance away.

“While the camera is looking into cars, other motorists could be driving erratically and causing a danger on the roads.”

Motorists who kill while ‘unavoidably distracted’ can be charged with causing death by careless driving and jailed for up to five years under a new law that came into force last summer.

That includes people using mobile phones or sat-navs, eating or drinking, adjusting car stereos or applying make-up at the time of fatal crashes.

An M.E.N. investigation found 15 drivers making calls or sending text messages on hand-held mobiles on city centre roads in a space of three hours.

It is against the law to use a hand-held mobile phone while at the wheel of a car with its engine running.

It is not against the law to eat at the wheel, but drivers could still be fined by police if they believe it has impaired your driving.

Sandwich

Two years ago the M.E.N. told how salesman Keith Pemberton, 29, was hit with a £60 fine and had three points slapped on his licence – for eating a cheese and pickle sandwich behind the wheel.

Police told him he had fallen foul of the tough new penalties for drivers using their hand-held mobile phones.

Karen Delaney from DriveSafe, the road safety group behind the latest scheme, said: “Many vehicles are now better equipped than most people’s offices or homes, with the latest technology in satellite navigation, telecommunications and state-of-the-art music systems all to hand.

“Add in other distractions such as complex dashboard instrumentation, a hot cup of coffee and a conversation with other vehicle occupants, and it is no wonder that some drivers are not paying attention.

“We feel safer in vehicles that are better built than ever before, but the driver is still responsible for road safety and must concentrate fully on driving.”

She added: “The Smart enforcement vehicles are fully GMP liveried and working in areas where our data analysis has identified a high occurrence of ‘driver distraction’ collisions and where officers have regularly observed offences being committed.

“They will have a high profile presence around the city centre and various town centres at peak traffic times.”

The RAC motoring organisation has backed the scheme. Spokesman John Franklin said: “Anything that helps to raise awareness and stops drivers from using their mobile phones at the wheel is a good idea.”