Bhubaneswar, Oct. 20: Hit-and-run drivers cannot get away easily any more.

A newly launched helpline of the transport department has introduced a facility that will help identify the erring vehicle once an onlooker texts it the registration number.

The transport department has started a trial run of a text message service aimed at identifying hit-and-run drivers.

Any one with the registration number of the vehicles involved in an accident can text it to the helpline from his mobile phone. This will help to track down the vehicle owner.

The procedure is very simple. If you witness any hit-and-run incident, simply type “vahan”, give a space and then type the entire car registration number as it is seen on the number plate, including the alphabets, and send it to 9212357123.

“This helpline has been introduced as the department realised that a number of cases related to road accidents are not getting registered. The hit-and-run cases go unregistered even as such incidents are on the rises. But with this helpline, we hope to be able to increase detection and registration of road accident cases,’’ said Bhubaneswar road transport officer Lalmohan Sethi.

Motor vehicles inspector Dipti Ranjan Patra, an engineer and a key person in initiating the service, said: “The service is in the introductory phase and we have to include many things such as the mobile numbers of the vehicle owners so that the phone numbers can also be known.”

However, Patra said there would be restrictions for the access, such as the registered phone numbers in the facility would only be provided to crime investigation and police officers as they need such data to explore a case.

The phone number of the car owners will not be made available to the common man.

The transport department is going to include many more IT-based applications for detection of traffic violations and formation of a centralised accident monitoring system .

In another development, Khurda district has gone a step ahead in providing road safety awareness among all the 30 districts of the state.

“We have already decided to form road safety clubs in roadside schools, colleges and other educational institutions to make people aware on road safety and also help the accident victims,’’ said collector Niranjan Sahu.

Sujata Rath, a teacher in a city-based management institute, said: “While communicating with the young men and women, I have realised that there should be road safety orientation classes.”

Police sources said the city encountered around 1,500 to 2,000 serious accident cases in a year and it was around 30 per cent of the total cases registered by the police.

“Almost 1,000 or more die each year while others meet with permanent disabilities,” said a senior traffic official.