Night eyes for traffic cops

Modern speed guns to check over-speeding at late hours

Modern speed guns to check over-speeding at late hours

With traffic moving at a snail's pace during peak hours, night time is when many Delhiites like to live life in the fast lane. That means more accidents and consequently more headaches for the traffic police.

Bull's eye Advanced speed guns that are effective even at night unlike
the conventional ones(left) would be acquired by the Delhi traffic police soon.
Pic/imitiyaz khan.

"Most of the hit and run accidents in Delhi take place in the night as several persons are in an inebriated condition and they indulge in rash driving which results in fatal accidents," said a senior police officer.

But now there's light at the end of the tunnel. Delhi traffic police is planning to procure 15 night vision speed radar guns to check over-speeding by night revellers. "We are doing a technology upgradation as the traffic police officials are ill-equipped to check violations during night time as most of these incidents happen at late hours," said the JCP (traffic) Satyendra Garg.

Meanwhile, country director of Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), Nalin Sinha said that this move will help traffic police check violations and rash driving.

"It has been seen that most of the accidents and fatalities take place between 11 pm and 3 am, as also during peak hours. This move will help traffic police reduce the number of accidents on roads," said Sinha.

Gunning for thrill seekers

A speed gun is a small Doppler radar unit used to detect the speed of objects, especially automobiles for the purpose of regulating traffic. A speed gun does not return information regarding the object's position. It relies on the Doppler effect applied to a radar beam to measure the speed of objects at which it is pointed. Speed guns may be hand-held or vehicle-mounted.

"But apart from this, police officials should install CCTV cameras at major black spots on Ring Road and Outer Ring Road which will help the police in law enforcement and control crime at these places," he added. Delhi has around 10 black spots (places where most number of accidents take place) and eight of them are on the Ring Road and the Outer Ring Road including areas like Ashram, ISBT and Narayana.

2,12,000 Number of challans issued in Delhi for over-speeding in 2009