Now, you can swipe card to pay traffic fine instantly

Traffic violators can no longer make the excuse of ‘no cash’ to avoid paying fine on the spot. They can pay fine by swiping credit or debit card through the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

The traffic police have replaced the old BlackBerries with GPS-enabled PDAs across Bengaluru.

These handheld devices have in-built printers, cameras and enforcement applications to register traffic violations. The gadgets take pictures and record videos, which will help police get irrefutable evidence of traffic violations.

The GPS will help record the place and time of the traffic violation. Speaking to DH, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R Hithendra said that as many as 625 PDAs had been provided to assistant sub-inspectors, sub-inspectors and other senior traffic officers in 44 traffic police stations across the city. A traffic sub-inspector posted at Anil Kumble Circle said: “Previously, when traffic offenders said they do not have cash, we would ask them to go to the nearest ATM, which is time-consuming. But with PDAs, we have started collecting fines by credit/debit cards.

“If people have neither cash nor card, we will take a picture of the vehicle’s registration number, register a case and send it to our data server in the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) through the PDA. The offender can pay the fine online.”

Paying fine through PDA

To pay the fine, swipe your debit/credit card through the PDA and enter the PIN. The police officer will enter the nature of offence, your vehicle’s registration number and your driving licence number. You will be shown the details before the challan is printed out. Once everything is done, the built-in printer will print out the receipt within 2-3 minutes.

Pay service tax, too

If you make the payment by card, you have will have to fork out 5% service tax.

For example, if you pay Rs 100 for jumping the signal and swipe the card through the PDA, you will have to pay Rs 105 (Rs 5 as service tax to the bank).

Motorists praise PDA

“It will be a time-saver for both the traffic police and citizens. The cashless payment will also check corruption,” said Rohan Imdapur, a hotel management professional.

Subin P K, a theatre artist, said: “I usually don’t carry much cash. The digital payment option to pay the traffic fine will certainly spare us the dash to the ATM. The use of GPS while issuing tickets will also curb corruption.”

Jyothi Priya, a techie, said: “PDA is definitely smart technology. The government will earn more revenue while the traffic police and the public will be spared the hassle.”

DH News Service