Alarmed over the spate of road accidents due to illegal racing during night hours, the Chenai City Police has planned to install high resolution cameras on arterial roads.
Following complaints by residents of East Coast Road, the traffic police seized 10 luxury sports cars, including Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi and Porsche, and the drivers were charged with rash driving last March.
During Christmas, the police rounded up over 200 bike racers on the city roads and charged them with rash driving and creating panic among the public.
Illegal bike racing continues despite the best of efforts taken by the police. “Stopping a bike travelling at a speed of 100 kmph is dangerous — to the rider as well as the police personnel. If anything happens to the rider when the police gives him a chase, there is a public outrage against us,” a traffic police officer said.
After exploring various options, the city police have decided to install high-resolution cameras at vantage locations of the arterial roads in the city.
High-speed offenders
Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, R. Sudhakar told The Hindu , “These cameras will capture the vehicle, be it bike or car, and the registration number even if it is travelling at a speed of 200 kmph.”
“After downloading the footage, we will able to proceed against the errant drivers or offenders on bike,” he said.
The police are looking to finalise the deal with service providers which include Keltron, a Kerala government organisation. Keltron has developed an ‘integrated vehicle accident reduction programme with all vehicle tracking system.’
“If working CCTV cameras are installed in places where bike races are conducted, it will certainly help us to bring the offendesr to book, apart from preventing accidents,” said Mr. Sudhakar.
After watching a couple of incidents caused due to police personnel excess, the State traffic planning authorities are set to revamp the enforcement system. Additional Commissioner of Police A. Arun said, “We are working to introduce a major revamp. We are yet to get the clearance.”
Last year, as many as 1,212 persons died in road accidents and 5,205 were injured in the city. A total of 235 died until last week this year and 872 sustained injuries.
