SUBHAYATRA - Traffic Awareness Campagin

Subhayatra – a series of traffic awareness programmes which was kicked off with a traffic awareness Carnival on 10^th April 2007. It was the beginning of an intensive traffic awareness drive to impart the message of safe driving habit and to streamline traffic in Kochi City through small engineering innovations.

The carnival organised a competition for the Best Driver in Kochi City. A Free medical camp was also held. A demonstration of lane traffic was organised as a part of the carnival. Free pollution checks and free topping up of engine oils for all vehicles that came to the carnival were conducted. Various exhibitions on the police force and traffic safety equipments were a part of the show. The road show was also organised for creating public awareness on road safety.

Representatives of agencies likeErnakulam Merchants Union, representatives of auto rickshaw drivers and bus operators attended the carnival.

SUBAYATRA - Traffic Mobile Exhibition

An old police bus of the department was converted into a unique Mobile Exhibition with models of various traffic problems, safety devices, Accident photos, training films were exhibited inside and outside the bus. The mobile Exhibition was a big hit with the schools and it is still in high demand travelling to various schools in the State as an educational exhibition on traffic safety.

SUBHAYATRA - Police Road Theatre

As a part of traffic education we have a selected a group of talented policemen and they are organizing road shows, including small skits to make the public aware of the various aspects of traffic safety. These plays were staged in various public places and scho

ols to educate the people on the principles of safe driving.

SUBHAYATRA - WEEKLY

This is another novel initiative of the City police were a Weekly Magazine on traffic safety initiatives by the police is published and distributed free to all the residential associations in the city and to the general public. The weekly contains the details of the good work done by the police in that week and also articles educating the public on various aspects of traffic and crime prevention.

TRAFFIC MONITOR SYSTEM

A traffic Monitor scheme was also introduced in the City in active cooperation with the Residential Associations, NCC, Scouts/Guides and the Merchant Association, wherein able-bodied and educated youth were enrolled on limited traffic duty, by the willing and capable Residential associations, as traffic monitors. They were given proper training, in a well suited uniform by the City police. These monitors are used to control the traffic in front of the schools and busy junctions, near the various Residential colonies, to ensure that

the traffic is smooth, accidents are prevented, students line up to alight into the bus and also to ensure that the buses stop in an organized manner in front of the schools etc. Either the various schools or commercial establishments in the area, under the direct control of the various residential associations and under the full operational control of the traffic police, finance these traffic monitors. This has ensured that the non important junctions of the City which are not manned by the traffic police presently, have traffic monitors to regulate traffic, so that the roads are a safer place for the traveling public.

TRAFFIC SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

Kochi City Police also launched a major programme for Modernizing the Police traffic arrangements so as to serve as an effective and efficient system for immediate redressal of the grievances of the public and to attend to various traffic problems, law and order issues and crime matters, on time. As it is known, the Traffic Police stations and Control Room is responsible for attending to all source of crimes/law and order matter, accidents etc. happening in Kochi City. They attend to all source information received on the Telephone Number “100” and on the no 1099, and the Flying Squads and Traffic Patrols are sent to such concerned places, to deal with the various issues, effectively. In the present modern world, it is essential that the Traffic Police station and Police Control Room is equipped with modern equipments and gadgets so that the police can perform their duties better and also the response time for the police to reach the spot of any accident or crime, is reduced to barest minimum.

It is in this regard that we installed the Traffic Surveillance Equipment placed at various important Traffic Junctions and places of public thoroughfare. Traffic Surveillance Cameras were installed at various places such as Railway Stations, Bus Stands, Important Traffic Junctions etc and these Surveillance Cameras have been linked to the traffic station and Control Room through optical fibers. As a result of this, all these junctions/ places are manned 24 hours by the Traffic Station and Control Room. Due to such a facility, the Traffic Station and Control Room is able to known about any traffic accident or congestion or law and order problem instantly, and the police are dispatched to the area to deal with the problem, in the minimum possible time. This has immensely helped the Traffic Station and Control Room to reduce crime and also to attend the various needs of the public.

GPS VEHICLE TRACKING SYSTEM

Kochi City Police in association with the Kochi Corporation and other voluntary organizations, launched a Novel project by Installing GPS Vehicle Tracking System in Control Room Vehicles in Cochin City. This is the first time that such a total scheme was introduced in the Police Department in the State. Under this scheme the fifteen Patrol vehicles and Ambulance of the City Police Control Room were fitted with electronic tracking devices, which helps the officials in the Control Room to monitor them on a 24 hour basis and accurately locate them, thereby improving the quality of service. These Police vehicles( Flying Squads, fitted with Smart Vehicle Tracking Systems (SVTS), use a combination of Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network to keep track of their exact location and movement on a GIS map as a result of which the control room can reduce the response time in case of any distress by directing the nearest mobile to the scene. In addition to location, the system also calculates the speed and heading direction of vehicles in real time. All information thus collected is transmitted to the Police Control Room where it is displayed live on high–resolution geographical maps. The Control Room then despatches the nearest patrol vehicle to trouble spots in quick time. Also, snapshots of these locations are conveyed back to the Control Room through vehicle fitted camera.