Gadget hurdle halts crackdown on speed demons

Delhi Police's crackdown against speed demons to bring down the number of mishaps on roads seemed to have lost momentum. Subhendu Ray reports.

Delhi Police's crackdown against speed demons to bring down the number of mishaps on roads seemed to have lost momentum.

HT Image

The traffic police had proposed to take on the rogue drivers with the help of technology from the start of this year by introducing 10 advanced speed interceptors, and installing a number of speed cameras at various city intersections.

The initiative, however, failed to yield results as, according to the police, they failed to attract any successful bids for the supply of equipment.

"Tendering process for both the projects failed as there were no successful bidders. We have to reinitiate the tendering process," said Sudhir Yadav, special commissioner of police (traffic).

Interestingly, Delhi police's high-profile Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) project has been also stuck in a limbo for the same reason. According to traffic police, speeding is one of the prime reasons for road accidents deaths in the city.

While, strict prosecutions have helped curbing the rate of accidents during day time, the speed demons often hit the roads after the dark when the traffic police went off the road.

"The speed cameras and infrared based interceptors would have helped us catching the violators during night hours, which in turn would have brought in a decline in road accidents," said a senior traffic police officer.

Earlier, in June last year, following a trial run, traffic police had dumped the project to install speed cameras along several roads where motorists tend to speed. They, however, had revived the project a few months later.

The department had also proposed to introduce speed radars or interceptors that can gauge vehicular speed even during the night. The existing 10 speed radars need bright sunlight to function.

Some of the radars, sources claimed, had even become non-functional.

If the tendering process fails again, sources claimed, the department might ask public sector company Electronic Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) for procuring the high-end gadgets.