Smooth drive: Govt working on plan to address traffic problems

Cameras to be installed on city roads to record information of those violating traffic rules.

LAHORE: The government is working on an intelligent transportation system (ITS) to address issues related to traffic across the province.

The system, proposed by the chief minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (SMU), would adopt various methods to manage traffic, SMU Senior Member Salman Sufi told The Express Tribune.

“These include installation of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to identify those violating traffic laws and introduction of a traffic guidance system.”

In the first phase of the programme, traffic wardens in Lahore have recently been provided cameras to capture pictures of the vehicles flouting traffic laws.

Cameras would be installed at traffic signals and some targeted points in the second phase that is yet to be launched, Sufi said. He said the cameras would record registration numbers of vehicles violating traffic rules. The authorities will use the record to send tickets to the violators at their homes.

In the third phase, ANPR cameras – linked with the Excise and Taxation Department – would be installed on various city roads, he said. “ANPR cameras will read registration plates of the vehicles violating traffic rules… these will also record store information of all other vehicles for future purposes,” he said.

Sufi said a ‘green wave control system’ would be installed at traffic signals. It would send a message to the traffic control system in case vehicles of emergency services are to be given way at a signal, he said.

In case of a traffic jam at a junction, the traffic guidance system would alert traffic wardens at nearby intersections so that they might manage the traffic flow accordingly, Sufi said.

“Based on updated traffic reports, the ITS will help navigate traffic through the quickest possible routes.”

Sufi said introduction of the ITS would help achieve the goal of ensuring minimum human intervention in law enforcement.

The chief minister has formed a steering committee comprising the excise and taxation, transport and home secretaries, the CCPO, the chief traffic officer and some SMU officials to assess the financial viability of the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2015.