[mreccentric]

I had been on a small outing with a friend on this Sunday. I saw something which was familiar to people across Bengaluru. The traffic constable was standing by the side of the road without any attentiveness.

Over a few seconds, as a two wheeler vehicle with it's passengers riding without a helmet passed by, he caught it through his mobile phone or cell phone. I don't know how it worked, but it seems to be used for sending violations and fines report.

This was not the first time I saw a traffic police capturing the moving vehicles with a cell phone camera. I want to know how it works. How he take a proper notice of fast moving vehicles on a cell phone camera? Do they a use an proprietary app for this purpose, or just a normal camera app?

Aren't there CCTV cameras across the major junctions (in every city), which catch such instances and deliver reports automatically (I have heard something like this in Bengaluru)? Will the information captured on the cops cell phone camera be counted as a violation?

[deathwalkr]

I would assume cops take pic to note down the license plate number. Come the evening they would start writing challans referring the pics.

As for cameras, they are there but pretty sure not all of them would be working.

Besides, cops have their targets to meet

[Oppanna]

Like mentioned above the cops will start capturing the pictures of violations and once they are in the station they start uploading to the site.

Now out of all the pictures captured how many will get uploaded and gets challan is a question they themselves can answer.

[windrider]

This is not new. Kerala mvd has been doing this for a long time. My cousin got fined for riding with a pillion who wasn't wearing a helmet. The photo was clearly taken by a cellphone since it was taken from ground level and uploaded to their online portal. I got fined for parking in an unmarked "no parking" zone .The chap selling snacks nearby told me about two policemen on a motorcycle who were taking videos of the vehicles parked. He told me this was a daily occurrence and loads of people were getting fined. Few weeks later saw a report in the newspaper regarding this and the very next day the authorities painted a no parking sign on the road and put up a no parking sign.

[mayankk]

Have seen this in Noida and Delhi too, for more than 3-4 years now.
One lone cop would be standing idly by, and as soon as the lights turn red, he'd take a stroll across the road, clicking pictures of all cars/vehicles beyond the stopping mark.
Challan comes in by evening. Been there, got that done to me.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by mreccentric

I want to know how it works. How he take a proper notice of fast moving vehicles on a cell phone camera? Do they a use an proprietary app for this purpose, or just a normal camera app?

I once asked a constable how it works and all they do is download the day's pics (not videos) onto the local station's computer. Whichever photo is clear, is uploaded to the website and that number plate gets a challan with a clear pic as proof.

My employer/company had the directors 2 cars, 1 two-wheeler and 1 goods carrier. My desk has cleared a few cash/challan payments and remember seeing a mobile photo (but from the Bangalore police website with their time stamp and logo/location) as proof.

[ninjatalli]

I have seen this in person at main junctions in CBD area in Bangalore (e.g. Dickenson road - MG road junction). The cop stands at the corner like he's checking something on his phone. Waits for the signal to turn red and eventually there'll be a few who cross over the white line. He then coolly walks across in front of them while clicking pics of the scooters/4-wheelers over the white line and goes and stands at the other side of the road for the next signal change. A few realize what he's doing and try to wiggle backwards but it's generally futile as the traffic is built up for several meters behind them with no space to go.

[mreccentric]

Well, my vehicles have also received such no parking and no helmet notices. They usually come on post to the registered home address. Both the recent ones which i received were captured on the cell phone cameras.

But, what seems to be very impressive is that the cops capturing the moving vehicles in the slightly heavy traffic. To capture a photo at an exact time of visibility would fail a lot of times, so i believe the cops capture a video of the violating vehicles which are on move. Don't know where the Bangalore cops learnt this from, but they are good at sending violation notices.

[GTO]

If done right, it's the ultimate example of efficiency.

In our area, there are no more tow trucks. Traffic Police merely come & take pictures of cars in no-parking zones. When the car owner sees his online challan with proof of wrong parking, you can bet it won't happen again.

No tow truck is a win-win. No damage to the vehicle for us car owners.

[mreccentric]

Agree. I rarely see towing vehicles used for four wheeler vehicles these days. But, the cops would still be having problem to have the No Parking board and the vehicle being captured in the same image.

In regards to the efficiency, i guess a lot of it will be missed due to lack of proper visibility in the captured file.

[prash1892]

I happened to sit beside a traffic cop in the Bangalore metro once and he had some kind of app on his phone on which there were pictures of vehicles with the license plates highlighted. They were running a OCR software I assume to fetch the characters from the image and a text box was filled up with the license plate number. Cop was verifying if the number in the image and the number in the text box matched and was forwarding them for processing.

[NomadSK]

It’s a very common phenomenon in this part of the world for minor infractions, such as wrong parking, last moment lane merging during exits (although its now digitally captured), non-functional break-lights, night driving without the headlights and even checking randomly for RC/Insurance/Periodic Inspection Record/DL's and few more may be.

So the cop is just sitting in the car with his dashcam on (Proof of an infraction) and taking the pictures of the violators on the roads, to be uploaded in the Traffic violation portal. For wrong parking’s, they keep moving around the block and go click click for the wrong parked vehicles. If one is sure 100% that it's wrongly ticketed to you or by mistake, One can challenge it in the system.

They are having an access to "employee app" to upload the violation and violator’s details as per the car's plate number and the infraction/violation text comes within an hour to the defaulter's phone and to be paid within a month.

[Altrozed]

This is not new and I can guarantee that this is the only job of constables and home guards of Hyderabad. Even if there is hell lot of traffic getting piled up at some signal or T jn, even then the police doesn't move out of his police dabba but only keeps looking at reels or taking pics.

I'm ok taking pics of offenders but traffic control is what their prime job which is left to dogs.

In the so called signal free, U turns corridors of Hyderabad, you find police only taking pics and nothing else.

Due to this, everybody became P.C Sri Ram

[airbus]

Originally Posted by mreccentric

But, the cops would still be having problem to have the No Parking board and the vehicle being captured in the same image.

No parking board is not required. We are not supposed to park if it is not marked as Parking area. Once I parked on the left side of a relatively wide road on a Sunday. Later I saw a challan online for "Parking on Main Road". Traffic cops on patrol duty took the picture.

All roads without a Parking Signboard is a “No Parking” zone: Joint Police Commissioner

I also see Bodycam with many traffic cops in Bengaluru. Not sure if they use captures from Bodycam.

[mreccentric]

Yes. The technology can overtake the system that is now present. With the implementation of IND number plates, i think OCR will be more easy and hassle less, and we might see more of automation technology.

Foreign countries have these and more sophisticated technologies for road-sense and law enforcement. I have seen these kind of things in various other countries, to the east and also west of India.

Especially, if one side of the road is alloted for parking on a particular day (odd or even days), i think the surrounding of the capture will be sufficient to prove that on which side of the road was the vehicle parked on what day. That was my point here.