Can Technology Out-Smart
the Traffic Offenders ?
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Read the following report which appeared in Hindustan
Times ( 15 June ) :
Mumbai traffic police’s E-challan scheme
faces road block, only 50k of 8 lakh motorists pay fine
The Mumbai traffic police’s ambitious SMS challan scheme seems to have hit a major road block
with just 50,000 out of the 8 lakh motorists having paid the fine since January
this year.
The glitch has now forced the police to
look for temporary measures-- like sending paper challans to the offenders
through courier or physically trace and summon them to chowkies to pay up--
before alternative arrangements are made.
“We are exploring several alternatives
to collect the fines before a solution was found for the present hitch,” joint
commissioner of police, traffic, Amitesh Kumar told HT.
This technology enabled the traffic
police to start sending challans to offenders over SMS since January this year
by collaborating with the Road Transport Authority (RTO), which maintains the
telephone (mobile) data bank of the motorists.
As soon as the personnel monitoring the
cameras at the traffic police control room scan the culprit vehicle’s
registration number, it is sent to another set of monitors where the telephone
number of the vehicle owner is traced from the RTO data bank.
Within seconds the e-challan (denoting
the fine) is generated and the text message is sent to the mobile phone of the
motorist through SMS.
Following the receipt of the challan,
the motorist is expected to pay the fine at the chowkie as directed in the
challan.
Sources in the traffic police said that
the compliance to the SMS challans has been abysmally low ever since it’s
launch in January this year. Fines for only 50,000 out of the 8 lakh challans
have been deposited so far.
“While in majority of the cases the
non-compliance has been deliberate, in other cases the problem occurs when
telephone numbers were not updated after the vehicle was sold by the original
owner.
Also change of mobile number by the
vehicle owner without intimating the RTO is the other factor resulting in the
plague,” a senior traffic official said.
As an immediate solution, the traffic
police have earmarked a plan of action which will be implemented in a phased
manner.
First, 500 repeat offenders have been
identified against whom more than 2,700 challans are pending at present.
“These are the repeat violators against
whom 5 challans each, or more, have been pending over the months,” Joint
commissioner Kumar said.
Traffic chowkies have been given the
list to physically trace the address of these motorists from RTO records and
summon them to pay up the fine.
In the second phase of the drive, the
traffic police would set it’s target on 2,700 more motorists against whom 3 or
more challans (each) are pending (total 6,000 challans).
“We want to send a message to the
violators that there is no let up,” said Kumar.
Meanwhile, another traffic police
official said that the glitch has forced the department to look for
alternatives.
“We are exploring options like
approaching the (vehicle) insurance companies for phone number updates of
motorists. Side by side, we are also in discussion with private courier
companies for sending paper challans at the addresses of the offenders,” the
official added.
MY SUGGESTION :
Instead of traffic police chasing the
offenders , can we make the car drivers chase the police , for paying up the
fines in a hurry – and ensure that they do not repeat the offence ?
Here is how :
Technology will “ immobilize “ the
violating vehicle as soon as it commits the offence for the third time in a
month ( even if the car owner has paid up fines for earlier offences )
By implementing :
Dear Shri Nitin Gadkariji
:
For implementing such a technological
solution , we don’t need to wait for Elon Musk to set up e-Car plant in India (
- although he will love such a challenge ! )
If challenged , the technologists of our
Car Manufacturers and ISRO , can put this solution in place within one year !
What is holding us
back ?
17 June 2017
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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