THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Bikers and drivers beware! The Motor Vehicle Department will start issuing challans for traffic offences detected by AI cameras from 8am on Monday.
The cameras will primarily be used for detecting offences such as bikers not using helmets and overloading, car passengers not wearing seat belts, drivers using mobile phones, jumping red signals, overspeeding, and dangerous and illegal parking, Transport Minister Antony Raju said on Sunday.
However, there will not be any penalty if the third passenger on the bike is a child under 12, the minister said. The state has written to the Union government demanding amendment of the Motor Vehicle Act to allow children to travel as third passenger, due to public demand.
“There has been no response from the Centre. The state will take a final decision based on the Centre’s response. Till then there shall be no penalty for overloading if the third passenger is a child of less than 12 years,” said Raju. As per the rule, only two persons are allowed to travel in a bike.
Public can appeal against penalty to RTO, says Antony Raju
Minister for Road, Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, in a response to Elamaram Karim MP, said allowing children as third passenger is not permitted due to safety concerns. The public can appeal against the penalty to the RTO concerned.
“The complainants have to approach the RTO directly. We will introduce an online appeal facility in two months,” said Raju. He said the state was the first in the country to implement AIbased traffic enforcement using automatic number plate recognition cameras.
The department was only trying to enforce the existing rules and no new rules had been added on its own. Exemption will be given to emergency vehicles as per the criteria fixed by the central law, he added. The MVD has put warning boards before the camera units.
A total of 692 cameras are currently functional, with 34 cameras being damaged due to road work, accidents and signalling problems. The MVD has been directed to publish the report of offences detected by the AI cameras on the website. There were 2,42,746 offences reported on June 2.
