Jajpur: Several motorists continue to drive irresponsibly with scant regard for their own safety and that of the fellow commuters.
Now, in a bid to reduce accidents on highways, the state commerce and transport department in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bhubaneswar is developing a radar technology to identify the motorists driving faster than the permissible speed limits on the highway, a report said.
This radar will be built by the ace institute by September 2022.
The matter came to the fore after transport department November 13 asked Prasant Kumar Sahoo,associate professor, I I T, Bhubaneswar to develop the radar within the period.
The department has asked to prepare automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) radar which will help in identifying the registration number plates of vehicles overspeeding on the highways.
The IIT has assured to prepare the radar by May 2023, while the MS Padhi, principal secretary of transport department has insisted on completion of the project by September 2022.
The department has allocated Rs 14, 87,400 to the IIT in March to develop the radar technology. The associate professor in a review meeting November 15 has pointed out that the work has been slow as development of radar is a costly project.
Reports said that a committee on road safety headed by a retired judge has been formed by the Supreme Court. The committee has formed several rules and guidelines at different point of times.
However, accident-related deaths continue to rise due to lack of adequate staff in the transport department to keep a tab on errant drivers violating speed rules on the highways.
Meanwhile, the state transport authority has published a notification on speed limits of different category of vehicles on the highways. However, biker and motorists violate these rules with impunity with staff shortage plaguing the department.
To overcome this problem, the radar technology to be developed will come handy, the report said. Sources said that over 1.50 lakh people die every year in road mishaps.
Odisha has jumped to twelfth rank from 16 in deaths due to road accident. The Supreme Court committee on road safety has directed to reduce accident-related deaths to 50 per cent.
According to reports, in Odisha 3,932 persons died in 2014 while 4,738 persons died in 2019 in road mishaps. The CID and Crime Branch report says 684 persons died in September and October in 2019 while 872 persons died during the same period in 2020.
The road accident deaths are 27.5 per cent more than the previous year.
PNN
