Kochi, Oct 15 The Kerala High Court on Thursday said that the luxury car accident, which claimed three lives, could have been averted if there were technology to inform the police about the previous instances of high-speed driving by the accused and suggested setting up a “platform” to prevent such accidents in future.
A bench of Justices Raja Vijayraghavan V and K V Jayakumar said that the artificial intelligence (AI) cameras with automatic number plate recognition system, that have been installed across the state, should be able to inform the police when it detects an overspeeding vehicle.
The court asked the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON) how many vehicles were captured in the AI cameras for overspeeding and how many were intimated to the authorities in the last two months and whether any action was taken on the same.
“The boy in the accident was earlier driving at over 210 km/hr. If your camera had detected it and informed the authorities, the accident would not have taken place. There is technology for everything, but you (state government) are not able to use it,” the bench observed.
“Unless you do something about it, things are going to be really bad. Imagine the impact of the three children dying on their families,” the bench said while hearing a plea initiated by it on its own on the subject of increasing road accidents in the state.
Three youngsters aged around 21, including two women, were killed when the speeding luxury car, allegedly driven by Suhail (19) under the influence of alcohol, hit their scooter at Nedumbassery near Kochi early on October 11.
The court further said that the state has to come forward with what it was going to do to prevent road accidents and asked the government not to take the issue lightly.
“We are extremely serious. Tell us in what time you can come up with a platform that will end everything (accidents),” the bench said.
The court also said that it wants the government to develop the platform from the road safety fund.
“Having regard to the urgency of the matter and the importance of ensuring road safety, we expect all the respondents to extend their full cooperation and take prompt and effective steps to comply with the directions issued by this court,” the bench said.
The court had earlier issued several directions, like surveying all state highways and major district roads, ensuring public transport buses follow the lane system and do not overtake or drive very fast in order to adhere to stipulated timings, preventing parking of vehicles on the side of the highways and having a driver profiling system where someone with more than 10 challans should get their licence revoked.
The bench made it clear that its earlier directions, including setting up road safety committees in all districts, are required to be implemented in a time-bound manner and without delay.
The Chief Secretary, Government of Keralam, being the nodal authority for overall coordination and monitoring of compliance, shall ensure effective coordination among the concerned departments and agencies, the bench said.
“The existence of multiple authorities shall not be a ground for deferring action or passing responsibility from one department to another. Each respondent shall obtain the necessary instructions and be ready to apprise this court of the specific measures taken or proposed to be taken, details of the officers responsible for implementation and the timelines for completion, in accordance with the directions already issued,” it said.
With these directions, the court listed the matter for hearing on November 3.
(PTI News)
