[S2!!!]

Delhi Traffic Police will now take the help of dashboard cameras to penalize traffic offenders. This device will be installed on the windscreen of the patrol vehicles to capture traffic violators.

The camera captures footage of all the vehicles driving ahead of the patrol vehicle. It can also be manually focused on any specific vehicle. The software is connected with GPS so that it provides details such as location, date, time as well as speed of the car. The camera also gets an audio-recording facility which helps to recall the details later. A team analyses the footage later on and sends notices to the offenders, on the basis of their registration numbers.

Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) - Muktesh Chander, has installed this equipment in his vehicle and managed to fine over 500 people already.

This device costs between Rs. 10,000 - Rs. 15,000 and will soon be installed in more police vehicles.


Source: india today

[Rajeevraj]

I think this is a good initiative. I have a dash cam in my car and if I sit an analyze the daily footage, am sure it will show me a large number of major violations. Having it in the patrol vehicles can ensure that the patrol vehicle can cover a larger area instead of standing in one place and catching violators at the particular point. Since the vehicles are not stopped and challans are issued later, it will avoid drivers bribing their way out. I am sure it will not be too difficult to pull up repeat offenders who have not paid the fine.

Of course, it needs to be used responsibly and efficiently. Otherwise can end up being a tool to trouble drivers.

[Dry Ice]

Good move! Technology is the way to go if corruption has to be weeded out. Similar cameras should also be installed at major/minor traffic intersections.

They also need to equip the traffic personnel with hand held devices where they can look up the vehicle history. Once pulled up, they can verify if the past offences have been paid up or not and compound the fine accordingly. This will lead to people feeling responsible about keeping their RCs updated with correct addresses so that challans are not missed.

Then there is the question of violations by out of state vehicles - maybe they can tie this up with the MCD toll collection centers at the borders, so next time when this car comes up to get an entry slip he also has to pay the fine (can work on cabs, but not for private vehicles).

[Knowall]

Good move, but why does the device cost 10-15 thousand when I use it with on a old android phone not worth more than 4k..

They should also encourage people to use their smartphones to record and upload captured data of accidents like how it is done in other countries.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Knowall

They should also encourage people to use their smartphones to record and upload captured data of accidents like how it is done in other countries.

And there will be equal number of folks wanting to pick that call from that Android phone which so far was used only for recording videos.

Oh, then half will also walk back to their cars to take that phone out attached to the cradle while the other half will write reviews on e-commerce sites on how bad their phones are as they fried in under 2 hours after using it too close to the windscreen on a sunny day and forgot taking their phones out while the car remain parked for hours.

Essentially - Mobile phones cannot replace Dashcams or can't even be called as an ideal replacement for recording. It can only be used as a temporary alternate but not as replacement.

Coming to this move by Delhi Police, it is commendable that they will now use the right technology to penalize offences through captured evidence. They may also use the clips to study the behavioral pattern of various vehicles on multiple roads and come out with few ideas too! All in all, a very productive utility is used for the right cause.

[Chetan_Rao]

Good idea!

They should really think about extending this to ALL patrol vehicles in the future, even motorcycles. Nothing like video evidence to prove crime, as against hearsay which will probably be inadmissible or easily dismissed in a court of law. I'd be in favor of on-person cams too, like they do in some western countries, helps gather crucial evidence as against relying solely on witness accounts and/or forensic deductions. About time we upgraded our over-burdened and horrendously ill-equipped police force

[grand@rao]

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[Aditya]

This is a good initiative. This should help the authorities garner evidence against offenders. The technology will also help to lessen corruption in the force. The costs may be a bit high, but the benefits will more than offset them.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I'd be in favor of on-person cams too, like they do in some western countries, helps gather crucial evidence as against relying solely on witness accounts and/or forensic deductions.

Absolutely.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Aditya

The technology will also help to lessen corruption in the force. The costs may be a bit high, but the benefits will more than offset them.

Agreed - I think it'll make them far more circumspect about what they say and how they behave. Expect a major such incident a few months from now - cop car dashcams have been invaluable proof in many such instances in the west!

[Knowall]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

And there will be equal number of folks wanting to pick that call from that Android phone which so far was used only for recording videos.

Oh, then half will also walk back to their cars to take that phone out attached to the cradle while the other half will write reviews on e-commerce sites on how bad their phones are as they fried in under 2 hours after using it too close to the windscreen on a sunny day and forgot taking their phones out while the car remain parked for hours.

Essentially - Mobile phones cannot replace Dashcams or can't even be called as an ideal replacement for recording. It can only be used as a temporary alternate but not as replacement.

Coming to this move by Delhi Police, it is commendable that they will now use the right technology to penalize offences through captured evidence. They may also use the clips to study the behavioral pattern of various vehicles on multiple roads and come out with few ideas too! All in all, a very productive utility is used for the right cause.

Yes a mobile phone cannot replace a dashcam 100%, but if a phone can now be used as a stop-gap camera, MP3 player , a health aid(S5) etc, it can also have other functions which can help capture key driving moments. This empowers driver more with information which is always useful when your stuck in uncomfortable situations.