Cuttack, September 15: Do traffic offenders bother you? Citizens of Odisha can now assist the Transport department in enforcing traffic rules. They can report about riding without helmet violation through the Next Gen mParivahan App ‘Citizen Sentinel’ option. Identity of any person reporting traffic rules violations will not be disclosed.
Additional Commissioner (Transport, Road Safety and Enforcement) Lalmohan Sethi said, “Citizens can upload photos and videos of both riders as well as pillion riders for riding without helmets. While clicking photographs and videos please ensure that the violation as well as vehicle number is clearly captured in the photograph and video.”
The department is seeking active participation of citizens in enforcement of road safety through a sentinel application developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
In the Citizen sentinel option the ‘No Helmet violation’ can be registered by uploading the live video and image. One needs to capture violations of driving without helmet (photo as well as video) on their smartphones and upload the same on the application. On the basis of inputs, e-challans will be issued by the State Transport Authority after verification.
As per the data, in 2022, a staggering 34 % of the deaths in road accidents involved two-wheelers which are a common mode of transportation in Odisha. A total of 1695 people lost their lives and 2615 were injured due to riding without helmets.
“Road Safety is a shared responsibility. To begin with, we are seeking help from citizens to keep a check on those who ride without helmets. In future other traffic violations will be added in the Citizen Sentinel option. Due to continuous enforcement activities people are using helmets in the urban areas but are unfortunately avoiding wearing helmets in rural areas and highways where protection is much more needed,” said Additional Commissioner Lalmohan Sethi.
