Traffic police gets speed detection cameras, patrol bikes & towing vans to regulate Eastern Freeway
Picture Courtesy: The Free Press Journal
A day after two motorists were seriously injured after their speeding car rammed into a divider on the Eastern Freeway, the traffic department inaugurated a host of facilities to keep a check on the traffic and accident prone highway.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar inaugurated two police outposts, at Reay Road and Wadala, on the Freeway on Tuesday. The newer outposts will increase police presence in the area, which will act as a deterrent for those flouting rules.
Apart from the inauguration of new posts, eight speed-detection cameras were also installed on the Freeway.
“These cameras will capture images of vehicles that cross the speed limit. The time, location and the registration number of the vehicle will be used by the traffic control room to generate e-challans,” said senior inspector Sunita Nashikkar.
“Breakdown of a vehicle on the Freeway causes an endless backlog. So far, there was no mechanism to know that a snarl was building up unless we noticed the backlog. We then decided to use our new outposts for monitoring feeds from cameras put up by BMC,” a leading daily quoted a senior traffic official saying.
The CCTV feed will be monitored by Reay Road police chowky and the main traffic control room in Worli.
Two hi-tech bikes for traffic cops to patrol the highway and two new towing vans with hydraulic cranes were also launched. All of them will be operational on the Freeway alone.
The newer vans will also help in reducing backlog, as officials won’t have to wait for private towing vans to arrive and clear the road. The ability to tow vehicles quickly will ensure there are fewer bottlenecks on the Freeway.
Other than reducing the number of accidents, the traffic department is hopeful that these newer features will ease the traffic situation and encourage more motorists to use the Freeway instead of the arterial roads.
“We want to appeal to motorists to use the Freeway and have taken measures for it. Fourteen gaps on P D’Mello Road have been shut, parking has been restricted on the stretch and counter lanes started,” said DCP Anil Kumbhare.
