Published Dec 22, 2023 | 10:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 22, 2023 | 10:00 AM
File photo of Bengaluru traffic. (Creative Commons)
Bengaluru city commuters would be better off checking for violations recorded against their vehicles by Artificial Intelligence cameras that click photos on the go.
Otherwise, a Bengaluru traffic cop might come knocking on their door someday to collect the hefty fines or even seize the vehicle if the number of violations is significant.
There are 48 traffic police stations in Bengaluru. Traffic Management Centre (TMC) officials have prepared a list of traffic violators — belonging to each traffic police station — whose vehicles have been recorded and given a challan for more than 30 traffic violations.
Lists of around 100 top violators per traffic police station have been dispatched to the respective traffic police stations, where the cops will trace the addresses of these violators and collect the fines.
“If the vehicle owner is unable to pay up the fine, the vehicle will be impounded and the violators summoned to appear in court,” said the officials.
“Our men have been instructed to trace the addresses of the violators mentioned in the list and collect the fines from them. If they are unwilling to pay the fine, their vehicles shall be impounded, and they may be produced before the court,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Traffic Division) Kuldeep Kumar Jain told South First.
“And those who have not updated their vehicle ownership details will be dealt with legally as and when their vehicles are intercepted by our field staff,” added Jain, who currently heads the Bengaluru Traffic Police in the absence of Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) MN Anucheth.
One person who knows this firsthand is Mala Dinesh, a resident of the Ganganagar area of Bengaluru.
The traffic cops recently seized her TVS Scooty Pep+ after they learnt that the two-wheeler had recorded a whopping 634 traffic violations and accrued a total fine amount of ₹3.25 lakh — which was four times the cost of the vehicle’s on-road price in Bengaluru.
The scooter, whose repeated violations were captured multiple times at the Taralabalu Junction in RT Nagar, bore registration number KA-04-KF-9072.
It was purchased in 2021 and was given its first challan in February 2022. Since then, it has been involved in 633 violations. The majority of them were for helmetless riding and using mobile phones while riding, the police added.
“If this rider had utilised the scheme of 50 percent discount in fines, which was announced first in February and a second time later, she could have saved ₹1.6 lakh,” a senior police official told South First.
Behind the recording of these violations is a system that consists of 250 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and 80 Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD) cameras installed at 50 junctions across Bengaluru, according to officials from the TMC.
“These cameras capture 20,000-25,000 violations on an average per day. Our traffic policemen on the field also detect violations through their cameras. We also collect violations from the Public Eye app, where citizens click and post complaints,” a senior TMC official told South First.
Asked if the same commuter, who travels through more than one junctions that have AI cameras would be penalised more than once for the same traffic violation, the officer clarified that it would depend on what the violation was.
“If the rider or the pillion rider is clicked not wearing helmets or seatbelts, then there is a one-hour window where our men consider it as one challan. If two or more challans are generated on the same vehicle within one hour for not wearing helmets or not fastening seatbelts, then our men discard the other challans, and the vehicle is penalised only once per hour,” he explained.
“However, all the times recorded by AI cameras for other visible offences — like using mobile phones while riding or driving, jumping signals, or triple riding — will count as individual violations,” the officer clarified.
