JKJR TO INSTALL 1,000 CCTV BY SEPT TO NAB TRAFFIC OFFENDERS

KUALA LUMPUR - More than 1,000 Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras would be installed on roads throughout the country to nab traffic offenders said Road Safety Department Director Datuk Suret Singh.

Suret Singh said the installation of CCTVs would be carried out in stages from May, with the installation of such CCTV cameras at 10 locations in Perak and Selangor.

JKJR will install more CCTV at selected places troughout the country.

We hope that this action will reduce the accidents and reduce the traffic offenders in Malaysia.

“We are going to fix more than 1,000 CCTVs at selected locations throughout the country, especially at traffic lights and to curb speed violation among the road users,” he told reporters after signing a Memorandum of Understanding between JKJR and Tamil daily, Makkal Osai.

Suret Singh said JKJR was focused on pursuing a recommendation to build special lanes for motorcycles which can reduce fatalities involving motorcyclists and pillion riders by 85 per cent.

He said road accidents, especially those involving motorcyclists has been increasing due to the lack of special lanes for motorcycles.

“Most road accidents in our country involves motorcyclists because they don’t have a proper lane for the motorcycles and since there are no special lanes, most of them misuse their rights by riding on main roads.

“For now we are focusing on the need to build proper motorcycle lanes and we will make sure such lanes are build as soon as possible,” he said.

He added that poor road conditions and mechanical problems have also been identified as contributing factors for the increase in number of accidents.

“According to a survey carried out by JKJR, 30 per cent of the accidents are caused by mechanical problems, 30 per cent due to road conditions and 40 per cent human error,” said Suret Singh.

UTM develops CCTV that can record images in the dark

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has developed a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera system which can produce clear and accurate images even in the dark.

The system, developed by the university's Photogrammetry and Laser Scanning Research Group headed by Prof Dr Zulkepli Majid of the Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Engineering, has the potential to be the best crime monitoring system.

Developed from the idea of Mohd Farid Mohd Ariff, 30, one of the 16 researchers in the group, it is an integration of modern imaging technology and geomatics, said Dr Zulkepli.

"The system involves three primary components -- gathering of data offline and online, space calibration and data processing," he told reporters at the university in Skudai.

He said the camera integrated three digital imaging technologies, namely high-resolution video camera, near infra-red filter and 3D stereo adapter, which could record 3D images in a bright or dark environment.

The space calibration component is a 3D calibration adapter used to calibrate space which would be recorded by the closed circuit camera, he said.

The data processing component identifies the image through the photogrammetry method which gives accurate and fast measurement of the subject in physical terms such as height, condition and form of the face, he added.

Dr Zulkepli said the research on the system took two years and the effectiveness of the system was tested from all angles.

He said the market price of the CCTV system was RM60,000, much higher than the normal CCTV camera, but its capacity to produce fast and accurate images was significant.

"We are trying to commercialise the CCTV system through the TechnoFund grant of the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry," he said, adding that it was being targeted for areas which were dark or without lighting.