In a bid to control the speed of vehicles and avert accidents along the Kalyani Expressway, the Barrackpore Commissionerate today installed speed laser guns, a device that can detect speed of vehicles instantly.
Stern action against the errant drivers and two-wheeler riders will be taken. Senior state police officers hoped this close monitoring on speed of the vehicles will help reduce road accidents.
Four speed laser guns have been installed at four strategic points. Senior police officers are monitoring movement of vehicles and the errant drivers are asked to slow down and stop their vehicles. They are shown at what speed the car was being driven. If successful, speed laser guns will be used in all the state highways and national highways.
A senior district police officer said after the Kalyani Expressway has been upgraded and widened, over speeding of vehicles has become a major menace. Road overbridges have been constructed to avoid congested intersections and this has made travelling easy and fast.
He said the average speed of premium cars that are being driven on the expressway will be anything between 120 km per hour to 150 km per hour. The speed of foreign cars like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Skoda, MG will be anything between 180 km per hour to 200 km per hour.
Because of this over speeding, accidents have gone up alarmingly. Unable to control the speed, the drivers are hitting either stationary vehicles or the walls. “It is difficult to control the speed by putting up guard walls on the highways. Cars failing to control speed often hit the guard walls causing extensive damage to the cars and the persons travelling in them,” he said.
The officer said high-end motor cycles have become another menace. The 400 cc bikes or above of both Indian and foreign make are driven at high speed and the riders often lose control, hitting the walls on both sides of the roads. “It is necessary to give training to the drivers and riders who use premium vehicles to avoid accidents,” he said.