Patna, Feb. 8: Going hi-tech is an addiction. The city police are hooked to it. Despite failing to use breath analysers and speed gun radars regularly, aplan is afoot to buy a traffic interceptor vehicle.

Several gadgets mounted on a sports utility vehicle, the police claim it is the best gadget to stop speeding, signal jumping, and driving in inebriated state. With a sensitive anti-speeding laser camera with a range of over 500m, surveillance camera, laptops, a public addressing system, emergency lights and breath analysers, interceptor would be a bitter pill for rowdy roadies. They will be penalised on the spot.

“There is a plan to buy an interceptor vehicle. A proposal regarding the same has been sent to the state police headquarters. At present, the Bangalore and Delhi police have such vehicles that come at a cost of around Rs 30 lakh,” Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar told The Telegraph.

The plan to buy an interceptor runs parallel to the ambitious computerisation project of the district transport office (DTO). Unless that is done, the hi-fi car will not be able to perform up to its potential.

“The police, in association with the DTO, are trying to evolve a system through which penalty letters can be sent to offenders on their respective addresses. But that will be possible only when the DTO becomes completely computerised and the gadgets on the interceptor are connected with its server,” an officer said.

District transport officer Harihar Prasad said the system at the DTO office was getting computerised.

“The office has a detailed information on all kinds of registered vehicles online. The police can easily be helped in this connection,” Prasad said.

Sources said a traffic interceptor vehicle could go long way in curbing traffic violations like speeding, rash driving and driving without helmets. In cities like Bangalore, traffic interceptor vehicles proved to be of huge help.

“A traffic interceptor vehicle is equipped with a very sensitive anti-speeding laser camera with a range of over 500m. It can detect the accurate speed of any vehicle. Once a vehicle is spotted speeding, its speed and the registration number are stored in a database. Later, the offender is penalised,” said a senior po- lice officer.

Traffic interceptors also consist of a surveillance camera. It can rotate all around and sight vehicles wrongly parked on roads.

Laptops, public address system, emergency lights and breath analysers are other features of traffic interceptors. They are also equipped with a system to spot vehicles not paying the penalty against traffic violation.

The citizens are upbeat about the new gadget. But some of them are sceptical about the preparedness of the city police to use it effectively.

“The police have failed to use breath analysers and speed gun radars regularly because the cops were untrained. If the traffic interceptor vehicle also gathers dust in a police station, the speeding menace will continue unabated,” said a senior citizen of the city.

In the state capital, the average speed limit on roads in urban areas is around 20km per hour. It is applicable in busy hours — from 9am to 9pm.

“There is no speed limit for highways or the sub- urban roads. But the drivers should not exceed the speed of 60km per hours,” a traffic police officer told The Telegraph.