Automates monitoring of 19 traffic violations, with Challan notices sent directly to vehicle owners
Rawalpindi has officially introduced and enforced an e-challan system for traffic violations. In just four days, 600 challans were issued for various traffic violations.
According to Rana Abdul Wahab of SSP Safe City Rawalpindi, more than 2,100 cameras across 360 locations are now used not only for security monitoring and traffic management but have also been fully integrated with the electronic scrolling system through the Safe City command and control center. This initiative, he stressed, aims to improve the safety of the city’s roads and their users.
The AI-based network, equipped with smart cameras, records traffic violations on major arterial roads without exception, with Challan notices sent directly to vehicle owners.
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Offering more information, SSP Safe City Rawalpindi Region, Rana Wahab, accompanied by SP Safe City Razaullah Shah and DSP Safe City Kashif Riaz, addressed a press conference at the Safe City command and control headquarters in Rawalpindi regarding the launch of the e-challan system.
He explained that the Command and Control Centre, which already oversees security monitoring, is now formally linked to the traffic management framework and the smart camera-based e-challan mechanism.
Across the cantonment and adjoining areas, over 2,100 smart and high-sensitivity cameras have been installed in connection with over 300 cases. These allow automated tracking of 19 categories of traffic violations. In the first four days alone, six hundred e-challans were generated and delivered to the affected vehicle owners.
Initially, priority is given to offenses that pose the greatest risk to human life, such as driving a motorcycle without a helmet, not wearing a seat belt and using a cell phone while driving. However, the e-challan system will gradually be extended to all traffic violations. Wahab claimed that smart cameras now record violations with supporting evidence, based on which challans are issued.
He added that smog monitoring is also underway. At forty-one project sites, air quality measuring devices have been installed and the Safe City program provides assistance to relevant departments in assessing and managing air quality data. Rana Wahab further noted that Safe City projects in all tehsils of Rawalpindi will be fully operational by December 31.
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Replying to a question, the police officer said surveillance is active not only at the Kachehri Chowk redevelopment project site but also along the alternative routes. The system is capable of monitoring nineteen distinct categories of violations.
Regarding VIP travel, he said the law applies to everyone, although VIP operational parameters may differ. He also said that challans dating back to August are being issued; however, no challan older than November 22 or older than twenty-four hours will now be generated. The system works continuously and is capable of detecting all types of violations.
Wahab added that recommendations for improving road infrastructure will also be submitted. The traffic police, he stressed, remain the main guardians of traffic regulation. If a citizen is not satisfied with a challan, he retains the right to appeal to a magistrate.
The overriding objective, he said, is to provide better facilities to the public. Panic buttons are also installed throughout the city.
He further revealed that the Safe City system maintains a database of over 14,000 registered blood donors. Upon receiving a call, donors are put in touch with the patient’s family. Each district was tasked with registering twenty-five new donors every day.
