A central monitoring station (CMS) linked to a state-of-the-art traffic surveillance system will soon enable the Kerala Police to detect, identify, and prosecute motorists who violate the legal speed limits on eight most accident-prone road stretches in the State.
The facility, coming up fast at the Police Training College here, will enable law-enforcers spot speedsters in real time on the Kovalam-Kottiyam stretch of National Highway 47 (61 km), Venjaranmoodu-Chengannur stretch of Main Central (MC) Road (93 km), Mannuthy-Walayar stretch of NH 47 (88 km), Sakthikulangara-Ambalappuzha stretch of NH 47 (69 km), Alappuzha-Changanessery State Highway (24 km), Kodungalloor-Irinjalakuda State Highway (40 km), Thrissur-Kuttipuram stretch of NH 17 (60 km) and Palakkad-Malappuram State Highway (90 km).
(As many as 2,051 persons were killed and 8,734 injured in motor accidents, caused mainly due to speeding and reckless driving, in these road segments between 2009 and 2011.
The accident rate has remained the same or marginally increased in the subsequent years, according to the State police.)
Field surveillance units, an array of active magnetic sensors buried below the road surface and Doppler radars (both to estimate vehicle speed), will be installed every 7 km on the stretches. They will be linked to overhead surveillance cameras.
Evidence
When the system detects a speed violation case, its cameras will capture the rear registration plate of the vehicle and its video and still images from different angles, to be presented in court as evidence.
The surveillance points will be Internet-linked to the CMS. Field-enforcers can download the images of speed violation on their mobile phones or laptops.
An automatic number plate recognition system (ANPRS) will enable traffic monitors at the CMS to retrieve the registration particulars of the vehicle, including its ownership details (from the digitized information repositories of Motor Vehicle Departments in the country) at the click of a mouse.
Main feature
The main feature of the system is that it runs on “optical character recognition software,” which can enhance even blurred images of licence plates.
The Home Department has expedited the police proposal to implement the proposed high-security ‘intelligent’ number plate scheme, (laser-imprinted tamper-proof hologram registration stickers to be pasted on the front and rear windshields of automobiles) to make the mass traffic surveillance system fool proof.
The police can also input the registration number of vehicles involved in crimes into the system to enable it to trigger an automatic alert when it detects the wanted vehicle.
The system will cover all important roads in the State by 2015. If so, the police will be able to assess traffic-flow patterns, vehicle density, and usage of road space better for more accurate traffic planning.
State Police Chief K. S. Balasubramanian, Inspector General of Police Manoj Abraham and Keltron Communications Divisions specialist S.P. Gopakumar are implementing the scheme.
