State to implement CCTV-based traffic management system to curb accidents on highways

The CCTV-enabled ITMS system captures 17 types of violations, including overspeeding, lane cutting, not wearing a seatbelt, and wrong lane driving, among others. The AI-equipped cameras are designed to capture images and send them to a central command and control system for analysis and authentication

Mumbai: In its bid to bring down the road accidents on highways by half by 2030 from the current annual number of 15,000, the state transport department has rolled out the implementation of Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS), installing CCTV cameras at 850 black spots on 25000 km of state and national highways across the state.

The aim is to reduce road accidents on highways by half by 2030 from the current annual number of 15,000.

The CCTV-enabled ITMS system captures 17 types of violations, including overspeeding, lane cutting, not wearing a seatbelt, and wrong lane driving, among others. The AI-equipped cameras are designed to capture images and send them to a central command and control system for analysis and authentication. The e-challans are then issued to the vehicle owners, extracting their details from the Regional Transport Office’s (RTO’s) database.

The ITMS will be implemented on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, with the contractors investing in the infrastructure and mechanism, which would be recovered from the challans issued to the violators. The transport department has appointed three contractors for the project, costing ₹1100 crore, to install 15 CCTV cameras every 100 km on at least 100 state and national highways over the next year.

“The ITMS is implemented on a PPP basis and is aimed at reducing road accidents by at least 50% by 2030. The ITMS, implemented on the Mumbai-Pune expressway for the last one and a half years, has helped us achieve the target. The deaths between January and July this year reduced to 37 from 61 during the same period last year. Similarly, the accidents had reduced by 39% from 46 to 33 between January and July in the last two years, respectively. We expect similar results after the implementation of ITMS on 25000 km of state and national highways,” said an official from the transport department.

The official said that the ITMS helps reduce the speed of the vehicles, especially at the black spots. “The major reason for the accidents and deaths on highways is the speed of the vehicles. The control over the speed through ITMS, which generates e-challans using artificial intelligence mechanisms, helps maintain discipline among the vehicles,” he added.