Fines for road traffic violations to be deducted from FASTag accounts

Fines for road traffic violations to be deducted from FASTag accounts

Corporation and the police will rely on camera footage to identify the violators

28/10/2020

Automatic fine: The Greater Chennai Corporation and the police have decided to automate the process of fine collection for violation of traffic rules. R. RAVINDRAN

Special CorrespondentCHENNAI

Camera footage is likely to be used to identify motorists who violate traffic rules by automating the system of fine collection in the city.

Officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation are planning to automate traffic fine collection using FASTag and the system of cameras fitted across the city by the Corporation and the police.

For instance, a motorist who parks a vehicle in a no-parking zone will be identified by the camera and the fine amount deducted from the FASTag account.

Similarly, in the case of traffic violations at signals, the fine amount would be deducted from the account of the owner of the vehicle. “At least 90% of the vehicles have FASTag in Chennai. The system will deduct the fine amount from the account of violators once the cameras capture violations on road,” said an official.

The Corporation has installed 500 cameras at important junctions of 471 bus route roads.

More cameras will be installed along the roads. The police and other line agencies had installed cameras using funding under smart cities mission.

Meanwhile, work on recruiting parking attendants has started to strengthen parking management in the city.

“COVID-19 has led to reduced collection of parking charges in areas such as T. Nagar and Anna Nagar. We have started recruiting parking attendants to improve services. The parking attendants will carry a hand-held machine to collect charges and regulate parking of vehicles,” said an official.

After relaxation of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the civic officials planned to strengthen parking management system to prevent unauthorised parking along roads.

The Corporation has planned to create 12,000 parking slots and the system would be expanded to more areas shortly.

Similar to parking violations, the Corporation has also started using analytics for regulating waste management.

It has installed cameras at 50 locations to identify overflowing bins. “We receive two to three alerts every day about overflowing bins. The system facilitates clearance of bins at frequent intervals. More cameras will be fitted to monitor garbage clearance issues,” said an official.