Upgraded phones to track traffic violations

BANGALORE:  “Bangalore city traffic police are on the threshold of major technological breakthroughs to manage congestion and chaos in city in an efficient manner,”  was Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Dr M A Saleem’s message to Bangaloreans when he took charge a few months ago. The traffic department’s  case record has surpassed all other police departments in the country by booking over a whopping 43,53,646 lakh cases with a total collection Rs 48 crore through fine.Also 30,50,739 cases have been booked through BlackBerry mobile phones, 280 of which are used by the city police every day. This was initiated as part of constant technical upgradation by the department.Configuration to be Changed While the city police are cracking down the number of traffic violations through BlackBerry mobiles, the department plans to take action against violations through upgraded technology. “The configuration of the existing mobiles will be changed in a way where the phone automatically keeps on reminding the traffic cops with frequent pop-ups on regular violations.”Speaking to Express, Dr M A Saleem said, “Indiscipline is high on roads and we are geared up for the next level of stringent measures. Through this change in technology, we are planning to increase our traffic enforcement to the next level.”Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, S Suresh Kumar, had announced to grant `20 crore for the development plan of traffic police, which would include replacing of old BlackBerry phones and improvement in surveillance cameras and traffic signals. This is part of Bangalore traffic police’s technology upgradation programme. Traffic expert’s viewWelcoming the move, Prof M N Sreehari, traffic expert, and advisor to state government on Traffic and Infrastructure, said this initiative would facilitate cops to retract many cases and slap fines on all the violations done in the past.He said, “City police  are doing a good job through automation enforcement along with their monitoring system through phones. City records the highest number of traffic violation cases when compared with other cities. Also, they are generating good revenue from these violations. Last year, they had collected nearly Rs 40 crore through fine and this year the figure is expected to cross over Rs 50 crore.”