Kolkata traffic undergoes a silent revolution

KOLKATA: In the middle of the election, Kolkata's traffic system has undergone a metamorphosis almost silently with the introduction of a high-tech traffic management system — area traffic control (ATC) — at the central business district of the city.
Governed by a super-processor at the city police headquarters at Lalbazar, the ATC reduces 'human error' and changes the signals on the basis of its study of traffic volume on a particular crossing."Apart from monitoring traffic, our system is adept to respond the distress calls and maintains surveillance at public places and VIP areas," said Commissioner of Police R K Pachnanda.
There are either magnetic loops just below the road surface near the crossing or cameras mounted on the signal pole. They act as sensors to gauge the traffic volume on a particular road at any given point of time. The study of these sensors goes to the central processing units. The CPU, which is collecting thousands such evaluations, gives the best possible signal command. The signal changes according to command.
"Since the system takes care of traffic flow management, traffic police personnel are used more for enforcement," said Debasish Roy, additional commissioner of the city police.
ATC currently covers a wide area. "It covers Strand Road in the west, AJC Bose Road in the south, AJC-APC Road in the east and Mahatma Gandhi Road in the north as its circumference. All roads and signals within this periphery fall under this system," said a senior traffic police officer.
The Kolkata police has also digitized records of about 6 lakh households, streets, pavements, banks, ATMs, water bodies, traffic signals, mosques, churches and temples in Kolkata. "If anyone makes any distress-call, his or her address and location will pop-up in our digitized map. It would be easier for police to locate the distress caller and resolve the issue," said an officer.