In a bid to minimise road accidents caused by overspeeding, the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office is working to install Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in three places of the Valley.

The ANPR is a technology that uses optical character recognition software and high-resolution cameras to capture images of vehicles’ number plates and can also recognise the driver’s face.

“It will take 10 days to install the ANPR cameras. We have already started the work,” said Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, spokesman at the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office.

According to Bhatta, overspeeding is responsible for more than 33 percent of the road accidents in the Kathmandu Valley.

According to officials at the Valley Traffic Office, ANPR cameras are being installed at three places—Balkumari, Mahalaxmisthan and Dhobighat—along the Kalanki-Koteshwar section of the Ring Road.

“Once the cameras come into operation, we can book overspeeding vehicles from our control room, because the camera sensor can automatically detect such vehicles,” said Bhatta.

Traffic police say overspeeding is one of the main causes of accidents, followed by drink driving. In the past three years, the Valley Traffic has booked a total of 80,715 persons for overspeeding. In the past three years, traffic police records show, overspeeding has increased nine times. In the fiscal year 2021-2022, a total of 6,933 persons were booked for overspeeding, while 18,447 were booked in 2022-2023 and 55,335 have been booked so far this fiscal year.

Traffic police records show that in the past one year, the Kathmandu Valley saw 10,733 road accidents. Of these, 3,543 were caused by overspeeding and drink driving was responsible for 589.

“It is because we are now enforcing the rules strictly and regularly conducting checks for overspeeding. More than 80 percent of traffic rule violators are two wheelers,” said Bhatta.

Traffic police have been using radar guns, mainly in two different road sections in the Valley: Bhaktapur-Koteshwar and Ring Road’s Kalanki-Koteshwar section.

The speed limit which traffic has kept in these road sections is not more than 50 km per hour. Those who breach the rule have to pay a fine of Rs500 and attend one hour of mandatory class on road safety. For the second time offenders, the fine is Rs1,000 and for the third time, the fine goes up to Rs1,500 along with mandatory class.

Traffic Police spokesman Bhatta said once the number plate reader cameras come into operation, they can help deter potential wrongdoers who run away after committing crimes.

“This time, we are more focused on controlling overspeeding,” said Bhatta.

In recent times, the traffic police have given more emphasis to automated systems for road traffic monitoring and surveillance.

In April, the Valley Police booked as many as 3,743 traffic rule violaters based on their monitoring from the traffic police CCTV control room. Meanwhile, 516 people involved in criminal activities were nabbed with the help of surveillance kits installed at various locations of the Valley.

Similarly, in the first week of June, the Valley Traffic Police Office said it was deploying ‘SoToxa’ sophisticated kits that detect the presence of six kinds of drugs—cocaine, cannabis, methamphetamine, opiates, amphetamine and benzodiazepines—through a rapid examination of oral fluid.

In January, the traffic department had introduced checking ‘Ganja Padartha Sewan’ (marijuana consumption), after the success of its anti-drink driving initiative in the Valley as a measure to lessen road accidents.

Traffic police say drink driving, overspeeding and negligence by drivers are the main causes of road accidents.