THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just four days into the activation of the new AI camera network in the state, the motor vehicles department (MVD) has reported a significant drop in traffic accident deaths. Daily fatalities that used to average 12 have come down to seven.
Meanwhile, the department has decided to make seat belts mandatory for drivers of heavy vehicles, including passenger buses, from September 1. Passengers sitting in the front row of buses will also have to wear seat belts. Transport Minister Antony Raju hailed the decline in accidents as a testament to the efficacy of the new system. “People are cooperating with the new system,” he said.
In a review meeting held on Friday, the minister discussed the camera project with officials of MVD, Keltron and NIC. The Safe Kerala Project has seen the installation of 694 cameras across the state. The MVD started issuing penalties for offences from 8am on June 5. There have been 3,52,730 traffic violations reported in the first four days. The number of violations has also seen a dip over the same period, from a high of 1,21,681 reported on Tuesday to 79,525 on Thursday.
However, Raju acknowledged a delay in the process of issuing penalties for the offences. This delay was attributed to the inexperience of Keltron staff and technical glitches in generating e-challans. Keltron managed to provide details of only 80,743 offences to the MVD. The MVD issued only 10,457 challans as the NIC’s server dealing with the Parivahan software developed glitches. As many as 19,790 offences have been uploaded. It was found that 6,153 riders received challans for not wearing helmets and 7,896 car passengers and drivers for not using seat belts. Raju said 56 VIP vehicles were found violating the rules and 10 of them have been served with notices.
“We have taken measures to increase the speed of issuing challans. Keltron has been directed to increase the staff count while NIC would be working on providing multiple logins for MVD officers on the website for faster challan generation,” said the minister. He conveyed the hope that the system would be streamlined in a month’s time.