Trichy police procure speed guns, breathalyzers to strengthen road safety

Trichy: The Trichy city police have procured speed radar guns, breathalyzers and surveillance cameras, besides upgrading traffic infrastructure, using Rs 1.6 crore allocated under the Road Safety Fund for 2025-26.City police commissioner N Kamini said the higher allocation had helped improve traffic management and enforcement measures across the city. "We received funding exceeding Rs 1 crore under the Road Safety Fund for the first time. By utilising this amount, we have upgraded the city's infrastructure and equipment. It will help us maintain better road safety and traffic management," she said, adding that allocations in previous years were around Rs 50 lakh. The purchases include three speed radar guns, 32 breathalyzers and 300 baton lights. Police said the equipment would be deployed in accident-prone and violation-prone stretches, including Anna Nagar Link Road, Bharathidasan Road, Collector Office Road, Trichy-Dindigul National Highway and Trichy-Thanjavur National Highway. The city has also witnessed frequent drunk-driving violations on Vayalur Road, VOC Road and Karur NH, particularly during festivals and special occasions. As part of infrastructure upgrades, two new traffic signals have been installed near Cantonment and Airport areas, while bollards have been mounted on Cauvery Bridge and the Junction Road overbridge. Police, however, said several outdated traffic signals in the city still need replacement. The works also include installation of six solar street lamps, 50 solar blinking lights and 96 cautionary signboards. Rubber speed breakers and reflective stickers have also been deployed. Police have additionally installed 120 surveillance cameras, including 24 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, 38 regular cameras and 64 varifocal cameras. Road Safety Fund allocations are sourced from fines collected through e-challans issued for violations such as rash driving, driving without licence or registration documents, mobile phone use while driving, helmetless riding and seatbelt violations. Road safety activists welcomed the initiatives but called for further measures. P Ayyarappan, founder of the Road User Welfare Trust, said, "Trichy city's road safety needs more major actions and further improvement. The police should aim to procure additional equipment and installations through increased funding." "Laws should be stricter and legal action needs to be stringent against violators," he added. Earlier this year, reports showed that a large share of e-challan fines issued since 2019 remained unpaid, with pending dues running into several crores. Police said efforts were under way to improve collections and strengthen road safety measures further.