Safe Kerala to amp up safety

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The six Motor Vehicles Department squads operating in the city will get a new vehicle each as part of a wet-lease agreement proposed by the MVD under the Safe Kerala project. “Presently, the MVD squads in the district have only five vehicles. We also needed to repair a few,” said an MVD official. The MVD which is presently facing a shortage of vehicles for traffic rule enforcement across the state will be procuring a total of 55 SUVs to add to its existing 35. “Hiring drivers, fuel and maintenance of the vehicles are included under the agreement. The tendering process of the work has already been completed,” said Shibu K Itty, nodal officer, Safe Kerala project. 

The MVD will also procure 14 electric vehicles as part of their initiative to popularise e-vehicles within the department. Unlike the SUVs which will be used by the MVD squads, the electric vehicles will be distributed to the district Regional Transport Offices of the state to meet their requirements. “Procuring the vehicles will solve the vehicle shortage problem faced by MVD. Patrolling time and visibility of the Safe Kerala project will also increase,” said Shibu. 

According to the official, more coordination with rural offices is required to bring down the number of traffic violations in the area. Further, MVD is also planning to use artificial intelligence (AI) to track the road violations in both rural and city areas of the state. “Unlike CCTV cameras that are more prone to errors due to human interference, the new technology using AI will be able to detect traffic offences on its own,” said an MVD official. The automated traffic law enforcement system which was submitted by the government around six months ago is still awaiting sanction from the government. Further, installation of tracking devices in the vehicles is also under consideration.