The Navi Mumbai traffic police, in association with engineering students of Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology, D.Y. Patil Group, have launched a mobile application to alert Navi Mumbai motorists about accident-prone spots.
The application, ‘Drive Safe — Navi Mumbai Traffic Police’, was inaugurated on Tuesday.
A brainchild of Dr. Amit Barve, an associate professor in the computer engineering department, the application was developed in two months. “I had this idea for a long time that there should be something that can alert a motorist about a danger-prone area. Hence, we approached the Navi Mumbai traffic police and after we received their approval, started working on it,” Mr. Barve said.
The team comprised third-year computer engineering students Balvinder Singh Gambhir, Gaurav Gajre, Shubham Gawade, Kailas Rathod and Rushikesh Koli, who were all led by Mr. Barve. The team was guided by Dr. Leena Ragha, head of department, computer engineering, and Dr. Mukesh D. Patil, principal of the college.
Navi Mumbai traffic officials provided a list of around 25 accident-prone spots. The application can be downloaded from Google Playstore and used for navigation just like Google Maps. “The first voice alert comes 300 m before approaching the location. It says. ‘In 300 m, danger zone ahead’ and after crossing 200 m, the second and final voice alert says, ‘In 100 m, danger zone ahead. Please drive slowly’,” Mr. Barve said.
The application gives out alerts only in Navi Mumbai. The creators are willing to expand it to Mumbai and later for the State as well.
“This application, if used by all, will surely help prevent accidents. When the driver gets an alert about a danger zone, he will slow down, which will in turn help in reducing the chances of accidents in an accident-prone area,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Sunil Lokhande.
