HUBBALLI: Several motorists continue to drive irresponsibly, with scant regard for both their safety and that of their fellow commuters. Now, in a bid to reduce accidents on the roads of Hubballi-Dharwad, the commissionerate of the twin cities has, since February 22, started using Radar-based speed detection cameras.
In addition to helping cops enforce traffic rules more effectively, the top brass in the twin cities’ police department hopes this will make Hubballi-Dharwad roads considerably safer.
Among the many advantages of the new cameras is the marked reduction in manual intervention. Images captured by the cameras of over-speeding vehicles will automatically be uploaded to the Traffic Management Centre. A challan for the fine amount will be automatically generated, and dispatched to the owner of the vehicle.
Hubballi-Dharwad police commissioner Labhu Ram said that, the lockdown, among other factors, had stalled the department’s plan to install the cameras across the twin cities.
“Since the situation has normalised, we have directed cops at all traffic police stations to use the feed from the cameras to check reckless driving, and enforce traffic rules,” he said.
Police sources said that the commissionerate procured the cameras when Pandurang Rane was the twin cities’ top cop. “In all, we have three Radar cameras: One will installed within the limits of the Hubballi east traffic police station, one within the jurisdiction of Hubballi south station and the other will be installed in Dharwad,” a source said.
Labhu Ram has instructed traffic police to leverage technology to make roads safer, and in keeping with the directive, cameras have now been installed along the side of the roads in Kusugal. One of the notable features of the advanced Radar-based cameras is that they can capture images of vehicles travelling as fat as 240kmph. Interestingly, the speed limit for vehicles on the roads of HubballiDharwad is 40kmph. The efficiency of interceptor vehicles that one finds on the roads of the twin cities is hampered by manual intervention and the paucity of time within which the cops deployed have to capture the image of the speeding vehicle using the laser.
The Radar-based cameras can capture the images of three or four speeding vehicles simultaneously. A traffic police constable said that the use of Radarbased cameras would put an end to arguments with motorists on the road, who often refused to pay the fine when stopped by cops.