TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT LOOKS AT FUTURISTIC ENFORCEMENT

The Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) is steadily shifting into an era of virtual enforcement.

It aims to spare both the public and the department from the hardship involved in stop-and-check method, and lend a cutting edge to the surveillance and enforcement mechanism through the application of technology.

The installation of surveillance cameras along the National Highway stretch between Cherthala and Manjeshwaram would go a long way in the technology-driven enforcement that the department is planning for the future. “Of course, physical intervention cannot be done away with completely since detection of some violations like drunk driving and overloading calls for it. But interceptions merely to verify documents could be avoided, a senior MVD official told The Hindu. This could also ease the pressure on a department that is stretched thin.

The surveillance cameras mounted along the Cherthala-Mannuthy stretch are now being used for detecting only over speeding and signal violation. Once the cameras are installed up to Manjeshwaram, the footage from them would be used to detect all possible violations by motorists.

A piece of software is being developed with this objective. It would have a slew of checkboxes for all possible motor vehicle violations on road, and the monitoring officers just need to tick the relevant checkboxes looking at the video footage.

For instance, if a two-wheeler driver is found over speeding without a helmet in a motorcycle with unauthorised fittings and illegible number plate, then the officer can book the motorist concerned on all those counts and issue notices accordingly.

The Motor Vehicles Department is also looking at the possibility of syncing insurance companies’ database on vehicles insured with MVD server.

“We already have a comprehensive database on the registration certificate of vehicles and driving licence. Making available the insurance and pollution test details would completely rule out the need to intercept vehicles for document verification,” the official said.

MVD also proposes to collect the mobile phone numbers and email IDs of motorists whereby a rule violation caught on camera is communicated to motorists in real time before the notices reach them.