After AI-powered surveillance, Kerala citizens can soon keep a tab on traffic violations via app and assist MVD

The app will have built-in links to share videos and photographs with the Motor Vehicle department’s control rooms. The app will have provisions to record and upload live videos and images of traffic violations as well.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

After the successful roll-out of the AI-powered fully automated traffic enforcement system in Kerala to check traffic violations, soon citizens can keep a tab on traffic violations with the Transport department getting ready to roll out an app to bring violations to the notice of Motor Vehicles department (MVD) officials.

Speaking to The Hindu, the office of Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar said the app would empower people to assist MVD officials in enforcing traffic rules.

As part of this project, the public will be able to download an app from Google Play Store and record videos of traffic violations or take photographs of breaches of road safety norms. The app will have built-in links to share videos and photographs with the MVD control rooms. The app will have provisions to record and upload live videos and images of traffic violations. MVD officials will issue e-challans based on the feeds from the app, said the Minister’s office.

Recently, the Transport department in Odisha rolled out a similar app called NextGen mParivahan app ‘Citizen Sentinel’ in which the public can record videos or images of traffic violations on their phones and upload on the app. The app was developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

Already, the multi-crore Keltron-configured project ‘AI-powered fully automated traffic enforcement system’ rolled out in Kerala a year ago in association with Bengaluru-based company SRIT India Private Ltd has reaped rich dividends, with the AI-powered surveillance system detecting close to 68 lakh traffic violations in a year. By roping in the public for the enforcement of traffic rules, the department is now targeting reducing traffic violations considerably on Kerala roads.

In 2021, the Public Works department (PWD) introduced a similar app, PWD 4U, for road users in 2021 to report complaints to authorities to take quick action with regard to the conditions of the roads. As per Kerala Assembly records, as many as 33,455 complaints were registered in the app till the middle of February 2024. Of these, 22,496 complaints were rectified fully, while steps were taken to solve 10,949 complaints.