THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vehicles of 19 MLAs and 10 MPs, along with 328 government-owned vehicles, have been booked for traffic offences through the Motor Vehicle Department’s (MVD) artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled cameras within a month, said Transport Minister Antony Raju. The MVD has issued e-chalans to all traffic offenders, regardless of their status as MPs or MLAs, he added.
After chairing a meeting to review the functioning of the AI-enabled camera system, the minister told reporters that an MP’s vehicle was found violating traffic rules six times, while an MLA’s vehicle was caught breaking traffic regulations on seven occasions. However, the minister refrained from disclosing the names of the elected representatives involved.
The AI cameras have detected 32.42 lakh traffic offences until Wednesday (August 2). Out of these, 15.83 lakh cases were examined, and e-chalans were generated for 3.82 lakh offences. The MVD has sent e-chalans to 3.23 lakh motorists for their violations,the minister informed.
The fines imposed on erring motorists amounted to Rs 25 crore, but only Rs 3.3 crore has been collected so far. To tackle non-payment issues, the government plans to restrict the renewal of vehicle insurance for motorists who fail to pay the fines. Despite the challenges, the government believes that the implementation of AI cameras has resulted in a reduction in the number of road accidents and related fatalities.