Dhaka Metropolitan Police is set to file cases based on CCTV footage to prevent speeding on the Dhaka Elevated Expressway from February 21, the expressway authority announced today.

The Daily Star spoke with Md Sarwar, Additional Commissioner (Traffic) of DMP, and Hasib Hasan Khan, head of traffic safety and security of Dhaka Elevated Expressway O&M Company Ltd to understand how the system will work.

Sarwar said currently police file cases against speeding vehicles on the elevated expressway and Purbachal Expressway using speed guns.

However, the speed guns cannot detect the number plates of vehicles that are speeding excessively. He added that in some cases, the vehicles are out of reach by the time the police check their speed.

"To address this issue, we have decided to implement video-based case filing for speeding vehicles," he said.

He said the Dhaka Elevated Expressway authorities will set up a video link at the Gulshan Traffic Division office by February 20. "We hope to start filing video cases from the next day," he added.

Hasib said they have already installed CCTV cameras at different points of the expressway and monitor those from a control room.

He said a link will be shared with the traffic police stationed at the Gulshan Traffic Division office so that they can monitor those and take legal action for over-speeding.

Regarding the process for filing cases, DMP additional commissioner said they are connected to the vehicle registration database of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and will file cases matching the number plates of the vehicles.

The notice of the case will be sent to the address of the vehicle owner as listed in the database, he said. If the fine is not paid within a deadline, a warrant will be issued, he added.

A vehicle will be fined Tk 2,500 for over-speeding, and the fine will be doubled if the offence is committed a second time, he said.

In case the ownership of a vehicle is changed and the BRTA database is not updated, he said they will find out the new owner and will realise fine from him or her.

In response to a question, he mentioned that the expressway authority is working to raise the maximum speed limit on the expressway to 80 kmph, up from 60 kmph.

"We will file a case against any vehicle that exceeds the fixed speed limit on the expressway," he said, when asked about the expressway authority's statement that a vehicle will be fined if it exceeds 100 kmph.

The first elevated expressway of Bangladesh opened to traffic partially in September 2023 and over 66,000 vehicles used it daily on an average last month.

But, more than 400 vehicles have been detected running over 100kmph last month, posing threat to road crashes, expressway officials said.

The expressway witnessed 10 major crashes since the opening. However, nobody was killed so far, they said.