Police need more mobile interceptors to track speed limit violations in Kozhikode

While police and motor vehicle department teams have stepped up road checks to reduce the growing road accident deaths, demands to allow more modern interceptor vehicles to track speed limit violations are still being ignored. The Interceptor vehicle allotted to the Kozhikode city police now has an in-order radar camera, which will not be useful for a productive enforcement drive.

According to police sources, only interceptor vehicles fitted with high-end radar cameras will be able to scientifically detect speed limit violations in areas outside the existing road surveillance camera network. They say that in the absence of such advanced vehicles, there will be technical difficulties for the checking squad to register cases with digital evidence.

A satisfactory annual maintenance contract is also spoiling the possibility of repairing a single mobile unit. Poor battery backup and lack of space in the vehicle have further hampered enforcement operations using technically unfit vehicles.

The enforcement team is forced to use this old vehicle while their counterparts in other states are now using infrared cameras that can generate better test results even late at night. According to official sources, the radar cameras in the old interceptor vehicles cannot produce clear images after 6 pm due to low light challenges.

There are also complaints against the traditional type of report generation by radar cameras with low zooming capabilities during checking. Police sources say that only high-end cameras can generate standard reports that can be submitted in court as strong evidence to prosecute criminals.

Although there have been demands to ensure at least three mobile interceptor vehicles for strict road checks against speeding violations, no concrete proposal has been sent to higher authorities for action. Requests to examine the possibility of using funds from the auction of old vehicles have also been ignored.

Meanwhile, activists of the Road Accident Prevention Forum say that the road safety fund available with the state government can be used effectively to improve various road safety measures. They argue that some part of the compounding charges levied for various road rule violations can be allocated equally.