Overstepping the zebra crossing was the traffic violation caught most frequently by the police’s CCTV camera network in the three months that it has been operational. The city police began its e-challan system on October 4, a day after the 4,617-camera network went live.
The cameras caught traffic violations such as riding without a helmet, talking on a mobile phone while driving, riding triple seat on a two-wheeler, signal violation, speeding, driving without seat belts, overstepping zebra crossings, and also noted the registration number of the offending vehicles.
The system is automated to send a SMS to the mobile phone of the offender with pictures of the offence from two angles and a link to pay the fine. “There were some teething problems initially. Sometimes the cameras would hang, or the payment link wouldn’t work. But the system is working well now,” said Milind Bharambe, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic. According to data provided by the traffic police, some 1.5 lakh automated challans have been issued since October 4. Of the average 4,500 challans issued every day, nearly 3,000 are issued to vehicles spotted overstepping the zebra crossing at traffic signals, the traffic police said. “Once the camera spots an offence, motorists receive a message even before they drive away,” said a traffic police officer.
The next most-spotted offence was bikers riding without helmets and with two pillion riders. These account for the remainder of challans issued on an average day, the officer said. The traffic police has also minimised its use of cash while collecting fines. Field police personnel have been issued Point of Sale (POS) terminals and are instructed to accept payment through debit or credit cards only, Bharambe added.
