The recently installed automated Safe Road Intelligent System (SRIS) is yielding positive results, with noticeable improvements in road usage in areas where cameras facilitating automated traffic tickets have been installed.
Traffic Chief Mahendra Singh, told Ignite News today that the new system is becoming “super effective”, noting an increase in drivers’ awareness and acknowledgment of the new measure.
He explained that drivers are beginning to observe the rules of the road in areas where the system is in effect, as they now understand its functions and capabilities.
“Where the cameras are currently deployed, there is a visible improvement in the way people operate or drive. The system also provides us with the capability to manage certain behaviours—what you’d call in layman’s terms ‘undertaking’ or forming an additional line. We can now address that, as the licence plate is recognisable and traceable to the owner,” he said.
The Traffic Chief attributed this change in behaviour to increased public awareness and voluntary compliance with speed limits.
He also addressed the matter of liability in situations where the owner of a vehicle may not be the one driving at the time of the offence.
“By virtue of the amendment to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act to include the electronic system, the owner remains the primary person liable for the payment of the ticket,” he stated.
The Traffic Chief clarified that the vehicle owner is granted a period in which to contest the traffic ticket. During this time, they may inform the court that they were not the person who committed the offence and must then provide details of the actual driver.
This individual then becomes a co-defendant in the matter and assumes responsibility for the offence and the accompanying fine.
If that person fails to pay the fine, liability ultimately reverts to the owner of the vehicle involved in the offence.
Regarding speed limits, the Traffic Chief noted that, to his knowledge, the limits remain unchanged. He said that the applicable speed limits across the country are those announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2009, and that these are available in the public domain.
Within the first 12 hours of the e-ticketing system’s implementation, the Traffic Department recorded over 200 traffic offences and nearly $2 million in fines.
Traffic Chief Mahendra Singh
