The first phase of Bahrain’s hi-tech smart camera system will be operational from Sunday.
This follows the General Directorate of Traffic’s confirmation of the system’s technical readiness and its efficient operation under various conditions, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.
Awareness programmes are to be intensified, focusing on the main violations that the system can detect, in a move aimed at enhancing road safety.
The smart camera system comes in the wake of national heartache over six lives being lost in January alone.
The ministry said the first phase relies on the actual monitoring of violations through an advanced surveillance system.
The most prominent violations that can be detected by the smart cameras include exceeding the speed limit, running red lights, using the emergency vehicles lane (yellow lane), using a handheld mobile phone while driving, failure to wear seat-belts by the driver and front-seat passenger and a child sitting in the front seat.
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It also includes failure to adhere to the correct lane within intersections and violations of road markings (lane deviation or second-row encroachment at intersections), failure of heavy vehicles to keep to the right lane, exceeding the permitted level of window tinting and repeated lane changes, as well as driving slowly in the left lane and the movement of heavy vehicles during peak hours.
Traffic authorities called on all citizens and residents to update their contact details through the eTraffic application or the ‘MyGov’ app, to ensure that alerts and notifications are received promptly and directly, thereby enhancing effective communication with the public and enabling immediate follow-up.
The GDN reported yesterday about a fatal accident – the fourth senseless road fatality since Friday evening, despite urgent calls by the authorities for car drivers and motorcyclists to take more care. Budaiya resident Juma Al Dossary died after the car he was driving overturned on Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Highway, heading towards the King Fahad Causeway.
Earlier, on January 19, a 36-year-old Asian man died in an accident in Isa Town after losing control of his motorcycle. On January 23, Ahmed Al Shuwaikh, 31, his wife Hawra Maki, 29, and their eight-year-old daughter, Reem, were enjoying a peaceful outing in the desert before an accident in Sakhir tragically took their lives.
The first fatality was on January 1, involving a 20-year-old Indian woman who died shortly after a New Year’s Day gathering with friends.
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