Non-contact apprehension of violators eyed for Cebu

If everything goes as planned, an American-Taiwanese firm will conduct a month-long experiment on non-contact apprehension of traffic violators in Cebu City starting November.

In a Facebook post dated Oct. 26, Councilor Jerry Guardo, deputy mayor for infrastructure, said a representative from Leotek Electronics Corp. presented to Mayor Tomas Osmeña the actual closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras with built-in computers capable of capturing and recording videos of traffic violators.

Leotek Electronics Corp., a subsidiary of Lite-On Technology Corp., is known for manufacturing light-emitting diode (LED) prod- ucts used for traffic and transit LED signal modules, general illumination and commercial signage.

The intelligent traffic system includes non-contact apprehension, detection of traffic violation through high resolution CCTV cameras and facial recognition of traffic violators.

“After we approve in the City Council the memorandum of agreement (with Leotek on experiment), we can start the experiment by first or second week of November,” Guardo said in Cebuano.

Leotek will test the technology on a portion of M.J. Cuenco Ave. at no cost to the City Government.

Guardo said the intersection near the Carreta Cemetery has been chosen as the pilot area since it is one of the busiest in the city.

“The system will run and will be tested for one month to find out how it can help improve our current traffic problem before we conclude our terms of reference,” he said.

Earlier, Guardo said the technology is used in Taiwan and was tested for two years by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

According to Guardo, the MMDA had an average of 4,000 monthly apprehensions of traffic violators. This dropped to 3,000 after the new traffic system was installed. /