NHAI upgrades advanced traffic management system for enhanced road safety, digital enforcement

New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has upgraded the Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) for enhanced road safety and digital enforcement on national highways and expressways, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The statement said enhancements include replacing previous VIDS cameras with the newly introduced Video Incident Detection and Enforcement System (VIDES) to emphasise the digital enforcement of traffic rules.

VIDES has the capability to identify 14 distinct incidents, including triple riding, helmet and seatbelt violations, wrong lane or direction driving, presence of animals on the highway, and pedestrian crossings, the statement said.

According to the statement, depending on the detected incident, VIDES will alert route patrol vehicles or ambulances, generate e-challans, relay alerts to nearby Variable Messaging Boards, or send notifications through the 'Rajmargyatra' mobile app to nearby travellers.

For comprehensive coverage, the statement said, these cameras are slated for installation every 10 km along national highways, with state-of-the-art command and control centres at every 100 km integrating various camera feeds.

Apart from this, Vehicle Speed Detection System (VSDS) is now integrated into VIDES, optimising the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, it added.

The Traffic Monitoring Camera System (TMCS) will also be upgraded, the statement said, adding that positioned every 1 km on the national highway, these cameras have been endowed with advanced capabilities like automated detection of accidents and stalled vehicles.

Strengthening collaboration with local traffic agencies, the statement said NHAI will allocate dedicated workstations in the command and control centre for traffic police representatives.

Moreover, provisions have been made to share camera feeds over the network to enhance real-time coordination and response.

ATMS deployment may also play an active role in disaster management by providing inputs for effective planning and implementation.

It will also provide online sharing of highway status and other important information that will help both the agencies and the highway users.

The statement said the policy also provisions implementation of Digital Highways by developing integrated utility corridors along the national highways to develop optic fibre cables (OFC) infrastructure.

While the ATMS equipment will use OFC to communicate with the command and control centre, there are provisions in the policy for 5G-based communication in the future as the coverage increases, it said.