BENGALURU: As traffic enforcement increasingly relies on surveillance cameras, defective and non-standard vehicle registration number plates have emerged as a major challenge for Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP), severely affecting enforcement and crime detection. Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras often fail to detect such plates.
Over the last three years, BTP has booked more than 4.2 lakh cases related to defective number plates. Data shows that 1,50,861 cases were booked in 2023, 1,57,665 in 2024, and 1,50,861 cases in 2025 till November.
A senior traffic police officer said faded or broken plates, or numbers deliberately covered with tape or paper, frequently escape ANPR detection, enabling violators to evade e-challans for offences such as overspeeding and signal jumping. “Defective number plates also delay investigations into hit-and-run cases and street crimes like robberies involving vehicles. Even when CCTV footage is available, unclear number plates slow down investigations,” the officer said.
The officer added that while most delivery agents use proper number plates, some deliberately obscure them to avoid e-challans. “Wheelie offenders, in particular, often avoid displaying number plates altogether to escape police action,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic-West) Anoop Shetty told TNIE that cases will be registered at law-and-order police stations against those who intentionally use defective or tampered number plates.
HSRP enforcement will help: Expert
Traffic expert Prof MN Sreehari said effective implementation of High Security Registration Plates (HSRP), along with strict enforcement by Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and traffic police, would significantly curb the menace of defective number plates.
Echoing this, a senior traffic police officer said HSRP plates have tamper-proof features and are difficult to remove or alter. “Coordinated enforcement by the RTOs and police, including fines and seizure of vehicles in repeat cases, will act as a strong deterrent,” the officer said.
Bengaluru techie’s AI system may merge with ASTraM app
Bengaluru-based techie Pankaj Tanwar had a meeting with Joint Commissioner of traffic, Karthik Reddy on Monday regarding his AI helmet capable of scanning, logging and automatically uploading details of traffic violations. He said that the system would possibly be directly integrated with the Bengaluru Traffic Police’s Actionable Intelligence for Sustainable Traffic Management (ASTraM) application, which would allow citizens to document acts of traffic violation with ease and automation. Tanwar had posted about the AI-powered helmet on X about a week ago and had caught the attention of Bengaluru City Police.