Drones on guard of order on the roads: new technical means of patrolling the streets were tested in Vitebsk

August 17, Vitebsk. The State traffic inspectorate of the Vitebsk region will use drones to control the situation on the roads. Today, new technical means of patrolling have been tested in the regional center for the first time, BelTA has learned.

"New technical means of patrolling the streets will be used, based on the analysis of the most dangerous sections of roads, in places where the most accidents with injuries to passengers and drivers have been recorded, during hourspeak at a tense situation on the roads of the city. Now we have two reconnaissance drones, rising to a height of up to 6 km and fixing violations. An operator and an assistant operator work with the drone, but in the future one person will be enough. The battery lasts for 45 minutes, and when the charge level drops to 15%, the aircraft automatically returns to the base. It is tied to the control panel and remembers the point where the control panel is located during takeoff. The presence of such a modern technical means disciplines drivers, and in the event of an accident, filming from it is indisputable evidence," said Lieutenant Colonel Ruslan Koroev, acting deputy head of the traffic police department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee.

He also noted that in Vitebsk there is a training and methodological gathering of inspectors of the regional road patrol service, where employees observe the drone in action. Operators controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle have received special training. Every drone is registered in the Ministry of Defense of Belarus. The duty service of the traffic police previously informs the department about the operation of the device, and there, according to the GPS signal, they monitor each rise of the device into the air. “There are plans to expand the fleet of drones, but for now we will use the available ones both in patrolling the streets and in training traffic police officers in areas where experienced operators will transfer knowledge of drone control to colleagues,” Ruslan Koroev added, noting that in Vitebsk The traffic police of the region was the first of the regional structures to introduce drones into its arsenal.

During the training of the streets of Vitebsk at the intersection of Stroiteley Avenue and Petrus Brovka Street, the drone transmitted signals about sharp maneuvers of several drivers. As a result, when checking, it turned out that two motorists - a man and a woman - were driving in a state ofalcohol intoxication .

The State traffic inspectorate reported that since the beginning of the year in the Vitebsk region, 249 drunk drivers were detained, 549 drivers who did not have the right to drive a vehicle, more than 5,000 facts of non-passing of pedestrians were recorded, almost all of them at unregulated pedestrian crossings. More than 6.3 thousand violations were committed by pedestrians.

"New technical means will help keep order on the roads and involve fewer traffic police officers. Most importantly, they will serve to prevent violations on city streets and roads in rural areas and contribute to the safety of all road users," Ruslan Koroev emphasized.

Photo by Alexander Khitrov