Traffic police vehicles to have surveillance cameras: Diwakar Raote

Violating traffic rules in the state is set to become more difficult with transport minister Diwakar Raote’s announcement that all traffic police vehicles, including RTO flying squads, would now be fixed with surveillance cameras. The move is aimed at reducing traffic accidents.

The announcement was made at a press meeting held at Sahyadri Guesthouse recently.

In the new system, challans and memos issued by traffic policemen in case of a violation will be delivered to the offender’s address.

Mr Raote said that Maharashtra was the first state to implement such a programme. While the move was yet to reach Mumbai, it was already initiated in other areas. “Five flying squad vehicles from Panvel and Pimpri Chinchwad RTOs were fixed with the cameras on an experimental basis. We are considering installing the same on vehicles owned by the traffic police in Mumbai,” he said.

The cameras will be of 14 megapixels and would be installed on the front of all vehicles. They can record events for upto six hours, said the minister.

He also added that the pilot project had been successful and the officers had managed to nab 750 traffic violators. The offenders were booked for over-speeding, lane cutting, driving without their seat belts on and other such offences.

“They were booked in Mumbai, Pune and Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Based on the footage, the RTO officials also sent the challans to the houses of the traffic rule violators,” Mr Raote said.

He added that since there was video footage available, people would not be able to deny their offence. “It will be a deterrent and thereby reduce road accidents, and help in improving traffic discipline among drivers,” the transport minister said.

The decision for stringent measures was taken up after the recent accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway in which a bus rammed two vehicles before falling into a ditch. Seventeen people were killed and nearly 50 were injured in the accident.