India Needs Laser Speed Guns
No fast-tracking for city’s traffic police
India - With no modern laser speed guns to curb overspeeding, traffic police cannot take any legal action against motorists violating speed limits
| by Gitesh Shelke - Prune Mirror News | ||
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Posted On Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 08:27:58 AM
The city traffic control branch is currently equipped with three speed radar guns operated by sonic waves and infra red light, which can measure a vehicle’s speed. However, as they do not have the facility of simultaneously generating a receipt bearing the vehicle’s photograph or registration number, they are considered outdated. Therefore, since they do not produce any legal proof against overspeeding drivers, they are invalid in terms of law. As a result, despite the umpteen incidents of rash driving in the city, the police have been unable to take any action against such drivers since 2008. The city traffic control branch had issued a public tender in 2009 to procure the latest laser speed guns. The tender was almost allotted to the lowest bidder but the process came to a standstill after the city police learnt that their supplier had been blacklisted by the Goa Police and also hadn’t provided proper service to the Mumbai Police in the past. A couple of months ago, the city traffic police sent a proposal to the state Director General of Police (DGP) office, specifying the requirements for the ultra-modern laser speed guns. Police inspector Vijay Palsule told Mirror that the DGP office will soon approve their proposal following which fresh tenders will be issued. He further added that the new guns will be equipped with cameras to print registration numbers of the speeding vehicles and also capture their photographs on a receipt. The police have requested for 20 new speed guns for 2010-11, 10 more for 2011-12, and three each for 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15. All the new guns will be delivered to each division of the traffic branch. Maximum overspeeding incidents are observed on Aundh Road, the old Mumbai-Pune Highway, the Katraj-Dehu Road Bypass, Ahmednagar Road, Kharadi Bypass, Khadki Road and B T Kawade Road as these are broad roads. |










