In their bid to rein in speed demons on the roads of the national Capital, Delhi Traffic Police on Wednesday launched 11 new interceptor vans which can track speeding vehicles through laser-based cameras not just during the day but also in the night.
With these interceptors which can also operate in the night unlike its predecessors, the police hope to double the number of challans in the national Capital and also bring down road fatalities. As many as 1.2 lakh challans have been issued for overspeeding this year so far.
The laser-camera can capture over speeding of up to 320 km/hr and many other traffic violations. “Some of the features include a laser Speed Gun with acquisition distance range of 3 to 1,000 metres which is made in USA. It can record both video and still images. Automated Over-speeding Enforcement with Pre-settable Speed limit. low cost of consumables, less than Rs3 per offence printout,” said Joint Commissioner of Police Traffic Anil Shukla. A police team which will be deployed 200 metres ahead of the interceptor will get the picture and the erring vehicle will be stopped and challaned. If the driver manages to escape, the challan will be dispatched to the vehicle owner’s residence, the Jt CP added.
Overspeeding is a big reason for road accidents whether it is bikes, cars or any bigger vehicle. Till now, we had 10 interceptors which work only during the day while overspeeding is an issue which increases in evening and night, he said. Explaining the new system and the need for it, he said, “It is a laser-based system which can work day and night. It will instantly identify the speeding vehicle even among 10 vehicles and provide its photograph which can even be produced as evidence in the court. The GPS coordinates, date and the place where the challan was issued will be mentioned in it.”
“We have issued 1.2 lakh challans this year for overspeeding and with the new system this is expected to double as we would now be able to challan in the night as well. We have chosen some high-speed corridors where we would deploy them and control the menace of overspeeding corridors,” Shukla said. I am sure that we would be able to send this message to people that if you overspeed, you would be caught, he added. These Enforcement Vehicles have been allocated to all the 11 traffic districts and will be deployed on the vulnerable speed prone stretches of entire Delhi such as Ring Road, Outer Ring Road, Central Spine Road near IGIA, NH-8, Ring Road near RK Puram, lodhi Road, DND Flyover, Road No 56, Saleem Garh Bypass, NH-24, NH-1 (GTK) & NH-10 Rohtak Road, police said.
Till December 15 this year, a total of 1,23,676 motorists have been prosecuted for over-speeding, 2,31,775 for dangerous driving and 4,544 motorists for lane violations. Earlier flagging off these interceptors at the India Gate lawns, Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said that the new system will make the city roads safer. The laser-based cameras fitted in these vehicles can generate a challan per two seconds and identify a speeding vehicle in a lane full of cars. They can work in all light conditions and produce a photograph of the speeding vehicle’s registration number plate with its GPS coordinates, time and place.