BTP recorded over 68 lakh traffic violation cases in last 9 months

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Despite the state government initiating various schemes to clear up traffic violations, the country's tech capital is on its way to shatter all records.

In the last 9 months, the city has recorded a whopping 68.3 lakh traffic violations, top officials at the Bengaluru Traffic Management Centre said.

It is no secret that there are several motorists who care two hoots for the traffic rules and regulations in Bengaluru. There are 50 junctions fitted with 280 high definition ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) cameras, around 80 Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD) among other surveillance and contactless enforcement cameras installed in the city.

The department also introduced the Intelligence Traffic Management System (ITMS) where artificial intelligence-enabled cameras will detect traffic violations and issue challans through SMSes to mobile phones.

The running gag of Bengaluru’s traffic cops hiding behind trees to pounce on unsuspecting motorists became a thing of the past, thanks to the contactless AI technology.

But it hardly has done anything to the people who continue to ignore the traffic rules. As a result, over 68,30,541 violation cases have been registered in the last 9 months.

A senior official from BTP on the condition of anonymity, said that the most violations detected by the ITMS are signal jumping, riding without helmet, wrong parking and driving without seatbelt. These violations have shot up this year compared to last year's records, he added.

It seems that the violators are taking advantage of the absence of the policemen at the junctions. The AI has taken over the role of the traffic police. The top officials however said that tougher action is being taken on anyone found violating traffic norms in Bengaluru.

The police have plans to book violators under a more stringent IPC section and will be targeting three major offences- wrong side driving, riding on the footpaths and riding/driving without helmet/seatbelt.

According to BTP, violators will be booked under Section 283 of the IPC, which deals with danger or obstruction in a public way or line of navigation.

It has a provision for the cops to seize the vehicle, which can only be released through a court. Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, MN Anuchet said, "The AI-based cameras have eased the traffic management process to a great extent. We wanted visibility of our police checking squads so that people knew they would be fined for breaking rules and we wanted discipline to improve. And there is a lot of improvement in the process. At present more than 90 per cent of the traffic violations are registered with the help of ITMS and AIbased cameras. A proposal to install more such cameras is under discussion," he said.