Bhubaneswar, June 7: Around 1,000 vehicles passing through the National Highway No. 16 near Nayapalli were found to have violated the maximum speed limit of 70kmph.
The violation was detected on Monday through a speed camera and an automated speed-detecting sign installed on the highway near Nayapalli.
Police said the device had been installed on a pilot basis and more such devices would be put up at other places, along the highway that passes through the city.
The infrared-based camera measures the speed of the vehicle and also records the date and time. The camera also captures the image of the registration plate. The automated speed-detecting sign displays the speed of the vehicle passing through the camera thus helping the vehicles slow down. Though the speed limit on the highway is 70kmph, the system has found vehicles touching even 90kmph. It can detect vehicle speed within a 30 metre range.
"This is a trial run of the system, and in the first phase, the drivers will be made aware of the system. On completion of the trial run, the violators will be penalised. Speeding is the major reason behind fatal accidents on the highway. Our primary goal is to make motorists aware of their vehicle speed - which, we think, will help them slow down," said a police official.
According to statistics, as many as 186 people died in 598 road mishaps in 2016, while the city witnessed 600 accidents in 2015, in which 175 people died. Statistics also revealed that as many as 235 accidents had taken place on the two highways passing through the city in 2016, while the number of accidents on other roads of the city in 2016 was 363. But, the number of casualties in road mishaps on the highway was 94.
In May last year, the Institute of Road Traffic Education, a Delhi-based organisation, had conducted a road safety audit between the stretch connecting Pitapalli in Bhubaneswar with OMP Square in Cuttack.
It found faulty road engineering behind the road accidents on the 45-kilometre stretch on National Highway No. 16. The road experts had also found inadequate signage instructing the drivers to reduce their speed as a major reason behind the road accidents.
