Speed control: cops have technology, not know-how

Ahmedabad Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic Tirthraj says he has sought the equipment from the Home department at the earliest as two highways touches city boundaries and the busiest Ashram Road is also an accident-prone zone where rash driving could be checked. 8220;We want two radars and the government is considering our demand8221;. But with the equipment, vehicles should be provided at alert points so that traffic police can chase and intercept speeding vehicles, he emphasises.

Interestingly, Regional Transport Office RTO, too, does not have the facility, courtesy government officials 8211; they believe cases of rash driving are more outside the city.

P S Patel, who recently took over as RTO, says: 8220;Our flying squad need speed detecting equipment as it as necessary to control vehicles on the highways.

To control rash driving, the government had in 1985 purchased some equipment to measure speed of vehicles on highways. The main drawback of the equipment was it consisted a tail-like structure to detect the air flow and velocity of the vehicle. Drivers could see this tail from a long distance and used to cut the speed while approaching the point where flying squad was camping.

Later, it was observed that a new and modern Doppler8217;s radar, in a portable suitcase form, would be more useful and accurate as well as keep secret the police vigil at various points.

Figures available from the State police headquarters reveal that in all, 29 Doppler8217;s radars were purchased 8211; 17 on April 4, 1996 at a cost of Rs 19 lakh, 12 on September 16, 1997 at a cost of Rs 13.5 lakh.

The radars were initially given to STB. But after the branch was disbanded in 1996 by the then Shankersinh Vaghela government, the equipment were distributed to various branches of State and Ahmedabad police. One was with Ahmedabad traffic police.

In November, 1997, the STB was revived by the Vaghela government to control highway mishaps and take stringent action against the violators of traffic norms.

STB officials claim they have been using 20 radars, given by the Communications department of the police, on various highways points 8211; two each at Dabhan traffic ad-post, Fazalpur, Karzan, Mandva, Ubhel, one each at Saila-Bagodara route, Rajkot-Saila route, Balwada-Nandigram route. Seven radars are at the headquarters.

But sources in the headquarters contest the claim, and say there were 29 radars of which 19 in use, and some may be non-functional.

Startling is officials8217; ignorance. The radar has a speed detector with a printer which gives out a graph of the velocity of the sound to help police detect the speed. But very few officers know the use of the radar while none of the squads drafted at various highway points is taking out graphs which can serve as an important document in court, to prove a driver8217;s negligence.

More, even most of the head constables and constables do not know how to use the equipment and take out a print. For them, conversion of frequency shown in a graph into figures is too difficult to handle.

STB Deputy Superintendent of Police Subhash Trivedi tells Express Newsline that the branch has two types of equipment 8211; some with the printer and some without. The old ones have been replaced by the new. 8220;But in both cases, we do not take out the prints of what the radar shows.8221;