BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to penalize over-speeding vehicles, the state government has decided to equip the highway patrol vehicles with speed laser guns. At present, only the interceptor vehicles are fitted with the speed laser guns.
“Since most of the accidents occur due to the driving in excess speed, we have decided to introduce speed laser guns in the highway patrol vehicles, which are operational on 18 stretches of the national highways. We have written to the state police headquarters to take steps for procurement and installation of the speed laser guns,” said a letter sent by state transport secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi to director general of police Abhay last week.
Violation of speed limit law has been leading to several road accidents in the state. Statistics of the state transport department said of the total 5,333 accident deaths in the state in 2019, nearly 69% died due to over-speeding of vehicles. Under section 183 of the amended Motor Vehicles Act, light and heavy vehicles will be fined Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively for driving in excess speed.
In his letter, Padhi has urged the DGP to prepare a standard operating procedure (SOP) for smooth management of the highway patrol system, which was launched by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik on February 1. Total 18 highway patrol vehicles were mobilized on 18 stretches in different districts to immediately shift accident victims to hospitals. There is a plan to add 18 more fleet of highway patrol vehicles in the near future.
The transport department has sought monthly enforcement data of the highway patrol units from the police headquarters. The data will be sent to the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, which monitors compliance of road safety rules across the country.
“There is a necessity of intensifying the enforcement against the traffic rule violators, especially those flouting the speed and drink driving rules. Although accident fatalities came down by 11% in 2020 as compared to 2019, the deaths increased by 26% between September and December last year. This disturbing trend seemed to continue in January and February this year,” Padhi’s letter said.