RTO's speed-detector vans arrive, but without radars

The state transport department had grand plans of inducting into its fleet during the road safety week next month 69 radar-mounted interceptor vehicles, which would detect the speed of motorists from 1.5 km away, click photos of traffic rule violators automatically, and generate at least 500 e-challans per hour to penalise them.

- Shashank Rao

MUMBAI: But the plans have come a cropper as the vehicles, all Mahindra Scorpios, have arrived without a crucial fitout – the roof-mounted radars which would distinguish them from existing interceptors and enable regional transport offices (RTOs) across the state to nab more culprits.

Typically, interceptor vehicles are equipped with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, a radar-based device to detect the speed of passing vehicles and a lux meter to measure brightness, among other features.