HYDERABAD: The city traffic police has installed around 250 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) software enabled cameras in Hyderabad to ease the traffic regulation and management. The new software which is part of Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) would change the face of traffic management in the city.The ANPR software which has multiple functionalities linked to the exclusively installed cameras, will detect the violations of traffic rules, calculate the volume of traffic passing through a particular signal, automatic division of waiting time at the traffic junctions, creating green channel for vehicles involved in emergency services and also identifies the vehicles listed in the top-violation list generated by the system.
A senior police officer in the traffic police department said that the cameras integrated with the ANPR software will identify the vehicle that violates traffic rules and generates an e-challan. Besides this, an automatic message will be sent to the vehicle owner. If any vehicle is repeatedly found violating the traffic rules, the system will identify the vehicle and gives alerts at the command control centre, enabling the police to intercept the vehicle at the next junction.
“The software has been tested with 500 vehicles that are in the list of top traffic rule violations. It has alerted over 50 vehicles that were moving in the city and helped in enforcement,” said the police officer.
The cameras can also read the volume of traffic based on the type of vehicle - two, three and four vehicles besides heavy vehicles, passing by each traffic junction and automatically calculates the time that would need the vehicles to pass through a junction.
“The current system of timers at the traffic junctions is working with ANPR system. Based on that around 2,000 traffic challans are being generated for the violations like wrong route driving, driving without helmet, over speeding, signal jumping and crossing the stop-line,” said the officer.
7 bridges equipped with ANPR cameras
The officer said that as many as 14 cameras have been fixed at each side of seven bridges constructed on Musi river which connects Old city and new city of Hyderabad. The cameras are capable of identifying a vehicle which travels across the city and gives a report on the junctions it has travelled according to the time, which helps during investigation of cases by the crime teams, said the official. The ANPR system which also has connectivity with the google data will read the volume of vehicles passing through junctions and identify the possible traffic congestion situations and provides best alternate routes for public preventing more congestion.
“China has a system that identifies the possible traffic congestion routes and guides commuters with the alternate routes through public redressal systems like digital display (VMS - Virtual Message Sign) boards, only Hyderabad traffic police has the system that can read the volume of vehicular traffic,” said the officer calling it as a revolutionary model that will change the face of traffic management in city.