Cops to keep hi-tech eye on traffic offenders

The next time you violate traffic rules within the Cyberabad police limits, you will be caught for sure. The Cyberabad police is all set to instal the latest `Red Speed Cameras’ to capture the images of motorists violating traffic rules so that they can be penalised later. For the first time in the State, 20 junctions in Cyberabad will have these high-end cameras.

“The Red Speed Cameras are specialised devices that capture instances of overspeeding, triple riding and signal-jumping by motorists. They transfer the captured images to the control room at the Commissionerate and the Regional Transport Authority offices.

Later, the data will be downloaded and e-challans will be issued to the violators,’’ V Ashok Reddy, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Cyberabad, told Expresso. Already, Red Speed Cameras have been installed in Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai. The high-definition gadgets are proposed to be installed at Cyber Towers, JNTU Circle, LB Nagar Ring Road and Uppal junction among other places at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore.

Police officials believe the cameras will play a vital role in reducing the accident rate that is quite high because of heavy traffic.

On an experimental basis, the first Red Speed Camera has been installed at Kothaguda junction recently. “We are in the process of finetuning the gadget,’’ an official said. The Red Speed Cameras are referred to as digital gatsos or monitron cameras. They work just like gatso cameras but have a more sophisticated digital image capture system.

“The camera takes three pictures. Two to confirm the speed of the vehicle in relation to the white lines painted on the road (much like the gasto system) and a third close-up picture to determine the registration number, make, model and colour of the vehicle,’’ the official explained.

The technologies used in the camera, manufactured by the UK-based Red Speed International Limited, are inductive loops such as digital camera, flash unit and near instant ADSL Data Transfer.

As the camera uses a fully digital mechanism, it sends photographs to the control room automatically through a high-speed network link. “This takes just a few seconds and therefore it makes the camera an efficient system to identify violators,’’ Ashok Reddy said.

 

By Mouli Mareedu

 

mouli@expressbuzz.com