Kerala plans to halve the road accident rate using AI camera surveillance

About 150,000 lives are lost annually in vehicle accidents, and about 450,000 vehicle accidents are reported in the country every year. The union government has directed the States to reduce road accidents by 50 per cent by curbing overspeeding with real-time camera tracking technology. 

Nearly 4,000 lives are lost, and over 40,000 are annually injured in vehicle accidents in Kerala. To address this issue, important roads in Kerala are being brought under the scanner of AI-based cameras to reduce road accidents by half within two years. In addition, safety experts say traffic rules could be enforced more effectively once the software that evaluates violations of traffic rules and imposes fines automatically comes into being. 

Once the camera captures the violation, the footage will go directly to the central government’s server. The vehicle owner will then receive an SMS from the central server about the fine to be remitted for the violation. Simultaneously, the information will also be sent to the special court. This limits the scope of influencing authorities to waive the penalty. 

High speed and overspeeding are the reasons for accidents on Kerala roads. Though there were changes made to the speed limit on driving on the national highways and other major roads in 2018, Kerala was still following the speed limits mentioned in the 2014 order.