Chandigarh police to introduce alcometers equipped with cameras

The traffic police will introduce a set of new alcometers in early December which will click a picture of the person behind the wheel when asked to blow into the machine. The feature is being introduced to gather proof of the occurrence of drunken driving to ensure that violators are prosecuted.

The police department has procured 20 such gadgets at a cost of around ₹27,000 each. The cameras on the alcometers will work in the dark as well, officials said.

Speaking about the importance of this gadget, deputy superintendent of police (DSP, traffic administration) Kewal Krishan said, “It is to make the case fool-proof. Many a times people say they weren’t driving when the challan was issued, or they weren’t drunk. Now, there will a picture of the driver along with his or her blood-alcohol percentage as proof. After training, the gadgets will be supplied to all drunken driving nakas in the city in the first week of December.”

Krishan said a software is also being development which will make it possible for a person to access the picture from home in a tie-up with the e-challaning system. “This will make the challaning process more transparent. Even if the drunk driver turns out to be a cop, the picture will ensure that there isn’t any favouritism,” he said, adding that Chandigarh will be one of the first cities in the country to introduce this feature.

The systems were purchased through the government e-marketplace. One of the officials behind the procurement of the alcosensors, inspector Ashok Tuli, said each sensor can store up to one lakh pictures which can be transferred onto a computer through a USB. Each gadget will have a battery backup of several hours, he said.

Even though the sensors were purchased about a month back, sources said developing and integrating a software to make pictures of the violators available online is taking time. The traffic police have written to the police headquarters to take steps to develop the software. “The system can work even without the software as the pictures can be uploaded to computer storage and can be shown to the offenders by the traffic police,” DSP Krishan said.

After the amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act in September, the challan for drunken driving has been fixed at ₹10,000, along with suspension of licence for three months for the first offence and double for subsequent offence along with cancellation of the licence. The traffic police have issued 4,132 drunken driving challans this year.