Monitoring traffic the e-way

There is no limit to the applications of IT in any department especially with
the police department," perceives GUG Sastry IPS, Joint Commissioner of
Police Traffic (Chennai), This understanding has paved the way to the maximum
usage of IT in monitoring the traffic control in Chennai. Result, a comparative
study of road traffic accidents in Chennai city from 1992 to 2002 shows a
drastic decline to about 30 percent.

Chennai City Traffic Police (CCTP) has installed junction monitoring using
camera. This is the first of its kind in India using 2 Mbps of leased line from
BSNL, by which CCTP will now get live transmission of the movement of vehicles
in its control room. Currently, CCTP has the vehicle database of 55,000 vehicles
entered into its system, which enables it to track any vehicles breaking the
traffic rules and fine them by sending a chalan to their address.

In addition to this, in the month of April CCTP will be introducing an SMS
system, whereby anyone can SMS to Chennai Traffic (SMS id to be disclosed later)
regarding any accident in any location using the location code. This system is
already in implementation in Delhi. Very soon Chennai will also have messaging
system dis-played at various junctions that will inform the public about any
traffic news. (CyberMedia News)

Nisha Kurian

Chennai