Odisha to curb overspeeding menace through radar technology

BHUBANESWAR: If everything goes as planned, the state government would be able to curb the menace of over-speeding vehicles with the help of a software-defined radar technology towards the end of 2023. The state transport department has engaged the IIT-Bhubaneswar to develop the technology and released Rs 14.78 lakh for the project.
Dr PK Sahoo, associate professor of the school of electrical sciences in IIT, Bhubaneswar, recently gave a presentation of the proposed radar technology before the senior officials of the transport department.
“The proposed system would be designed by the use of mm-wave radar technique and machine learning techniques, which will facilitate vehicular classification on highways. At present, radar based technology is being used in many states for detection of over-speeding,” state commerce and transport secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi said.
The transport department has requested the state micro, small & medium enterprise (MS&ME) department to encourage start-ups or entrepreneurs to design a device to use the proposed software-defined radar technology and its marketing.
Violation of speed limit law has been leading to several road accidents in the state. Statistics of the state transport department said of the total 4738 accident deaths in the state in 2020, nearly 70% of them died due to over-speeding of vehicles. Under section 183 of the amended Motor Vehicles Act, light and heavy vehicles will be fined Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively for driving in excess speed.
On November 20, the State Transport Authority (STA) notified revised and uniform speed limits for motor vehicles on all national and state highways in Odisha. The speed limit for passenger vehicles (non-transport) comprising not more than eight seats in addition to driver’s such as cars and cabs is now 100 kmph on four-lane NHs and 50 kmph on stretches on NH and SH passing through municipal and NAC areas. The maximum speed limit for such vehicles on all other NHs and SHs in the state is 60 kmph.
Taxis and cabs are allowed to drive at a maximum 80 kmph on highways having four lanes and above. The maximum speed limit for passenger vehicles carrying nine or more persons has been revised to 80 kmph on four-lane highways, 40 kmph on stretches on NH and SH passing through ULBs and 60 kmph on all other NHs and SHs.
While two-wheelers are allowed to travel at a maximum speed of 60 kmph on four-lane highways, 40 kmph on highways passing through ULBs and 50 kmph on all other highways, autorickshaws and other three-wheelers can be driven at a speed of 40 kmph, 30 kmph and 30 kmph respectively.
The speed limit for all types of transport vehicles used for carriage of goods like trucks, mini-trucks and pick-ups has been notified as 60 kmph for highways of four-lane and above, 30 kmph on roads passing through ULBs and 50 kmph on all other highways.
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