THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The popularity of mobile applications that alert motorists about the presence of speed detection cameras has become a headache for the motor vehicles department (MVD) and the police. Even as the MVD is strengthening its surveillance network with the launch of 726 cameras on April 20, a solution to camera-dodging motorists looks far away.
Taxi drivers, bikers, and other long-distance travellers have been using half-a-dozen mobile applications to dodge cameras. The apps have the facility to know the locations of cameras in the vicinity. It gives alert to motorists as far as two kilometres in advance. The range of speed cameras fall within a few hundred meters only. Most of the apps have features to give continuous alerts against the speed limit set on a particular stretch. They slow down the vehicle within the permissible limit upon getting alerts and increase the speed after crossing the camera. There are numerous videos available on social media to share information on these apps. These videos are very popular as well as they garner thousands of ‘likes’.
Speeding is one of the major reasons for fatal accidents. The offence attracts a fine of Rs 1,500 for a single violation. “The popularity of radar camera detecting apps is a serious threat to road safety besides causing financial loss to the state,” said a senior officer of MVD.
The MVD is pinning hope on the new surveillance mechanism to catch the dodgers, at a later stage. “There are two issues with motorists using the app. The first is that it is dangerous to drive while focusing on the app. The second is speeding. We are in the process of developing a software to check the average speed taken by a vehicle to cover the distance between two cameras. The cameras will record the time at which the vehicle passes particular spots, and the software will calculate the time taken to cover the distance. We can detect speeding if the time taken is lesser than the ideal time. We will move to that system later,” said transport commissioner S Sreejith.
Out of the 726 new cameras to be launched, 675 are AI cameras and eight (four installed on vehicles) are for speed detection. The MVD already has 240 cameras exclusively to detect speed. However, most of them are non-functional.
Earlier, MVD even approached the IT department and tried to ban the apps using provisions of the Information Technology Act (Section 69 of IT Act 2000). However, the number of such apps has only swelled since then. There were talks at the chief secretary level to find ways to dissuade overspeeding. The road safety expert suggested the use of stretch speed calculation to find the offenders.
The stretch speed calculation is an effective method for finding the speed, said N Narayana Moorthy, chairman and managing director of Keltron which is implementing the new cameras network project. However, MVD officers are not fully convinced about the stretch speed calculation method in issuing penalties.