Speed cameras installed on major roads in New Town will now be used to prosecute people for violating the speed limit, police said.
Around a dozen cameras that can detect the speed of vehicles and also click photographs of their licence plates have been set up at several points along the Major Arterial Road.
Some of such cameras are located near Eco Park, Nazrul Tirtha, the Aircraft Museum and the Kolkata Gate.
They now only show the speed at which a vehicle travels flash messages that read “Slow Down” whenever a motorist breaks the speed limit.
Bidhannagar police commissioner Gaurav Sharma on Tuesday said these cameras will now be used to prosecute motorists who break the speed barrier.
“We will be sending out speeding tickets to the owners of vehicles caught by the speed cameras. We have been using hand-held speed guns to prosecute motorists. These cameras will help us even more as they need no human intervention,” said Sharma.
The speed limit in New Town for trucks, buses and other heavy vehicles is fixed at 40kmph; for cars and bikes, it is set at 50kmph.
The cameras have been in place for over a year now, and have been warning motorists, but the police were not using them to prosecute offenders.
The cameras in New Town will track the speed of vehicles, click photographs of those overspeeding and send text messages to their owners’ cellphones.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate’s traffic wing said that a motorist will be given a week within which the fine has to be paid.
New Town has smooth, wide roads interspersed with large well-marked intersections, pedestrian crossover points and subways and a mapped traffic-signalling system.
The Major Arterial Road is a 10.5km speed corridor that connects New Town with Salt Lake on one end and the airport on the other.
Several residents said that limiting the speed on a corridor like the Major Arterial Road defeats its purpose.
Suprakash Chakraborty, who stays in New Town and drives to his workplace, said that the Major Arterial Road was meant to ensure faster travel.
“The road itself is wide and smooth and has a wide median divider. It is designed in such a way that it gives drivers unhindered vision as well. However, now there are multiple guardrails put up in a zig-zag fashion and this has upped the driving time,” said Chakraborty.
Officers of the Bidhannagar commissionerate’s traffic wing, however, said that a section of motorists and two-wheeler riders has been converging there regularly, especially at night, for “high-speed fun rides”.
“There are many who stay in New Town and come for friendly races among themselves at night when traffic lightens up considerably. We have been setting boards to discourage them and setting traffic guardrails that act as speed cutters,” said theofficer.