Number-reading cameras, CCTVs to reduce accident deaths in Jamshedpur

Vehicles with speed tracking cameras, traffic police with speed laser guns, CCTVs and automatic number-plate reading cameras (ANPRC) at accident-prone zones will help Jamshedpur police reduce deaths in road accidents.

In the steel city, out of 41 deaths in 66 road accidents till August, 32 people died in bike accidents.

East Singhbhum district road safety committee has drafted an action plan under which it would limit the speed to 40-45 km per hour plan in the city, officials said on Wednesday.

The plan envisages setting up above mentioned technological equipment for better monitoring and follow-up actions.

“We will immediately start our drive against rash driving and minors driving bikes or vehicles without proper licences. We will also act tough on overloading in autos and vans carrying school students apart from enforcing compliance of traffic rules,” Prashant Anand, city superintendent of police, told HT.

Jamshedpur senior superintendent of police Anoop T Matthew and East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amit Kumar have asked traffic DSP Vivekanand Thakur to prepare a road safety plan identifying spots where CCTVs, ANPRCs and speed limit signs should be put up. Thakur has also been asked to identify accident-prone zones.

“School principals are demanding heavy fine for driving without helmets but we can fine what is permitted under the law. It’s not about law only but more about individual responsibility and collective accountability of the society. Parents need to be careful and sensible in keeping an eye on what their wards are up to – we need a change in attitude,” SSP Matthew told HT.

Matthew said they suggested school managements to have their own buses but they said it was impractical. “But schools across the country do have their own buses. We also need to be more careful about the movements of heavy vehicles and pay-loaders within the city.”

A delegation of principals of different schools led by SAFE Club chairperson Ruchi Narendran, who is also the wife of Tata Steel managing director TV Narendaran, met Matthew on Tuesday in the wake of alarming rate of deaths of school-going kids in road accidents in the city.

Traffic DSP Thakur said they would start surprise checking for rash driving, helmet and licence checking from Thursday.

“As per inputs from the school principals, we will also seize bikes and scooters from the schools concerned in case of irregularities and nuisance. We’ve been receiving many complaints that students do drive high-speed geared bikes on licences for non-geared vehicles,” he said.