QR stickers to enhance passenger safety

Ongole: Prakasam district Superintendent of Police V Harshavardhan Raju launched digital number stickers for autorickshaws across the erstwhile Prakasam district at the District Police Parade Grounds in Ongole on Tuesday.

The initiative is part of a broader police digitalisation drive to enhance passenger safety and improve traffic regulation. Under this programme, each autorickshaw will be issued two A4-size display board stickers embedded with a unique QR code containing the driver and vehicle owner’s complete details. Passengers can scan the QR code using Google Lens to access a range of safety features through the website www.todaysafejourney.com. These include options to print driver details, share vehicle information with family members via WhatsApp, track the vehicle’s location and relay it to the police control room in emergencies, rate the driver’s behaviour, file complaints, make emergency calls to 112, and view contact numbers for the nearest police stations.

To obtain the digital stickers, auto owners and drivers must submit their Aadhaar card, driving licence, passport-size photographs, and complete vehicle details to the traffic police, who will then register the information on a dedicated website and issue QR-coded stickers.

The SP urged all auto drivers and owners across Ongole to cooperate with the police and register at the earliest. He also felicitated two honest auto drivers, Gadde Nageswara Rao of Balaji Nagar and Shaik Khalil of Bilal Nagar, who had handed over forgotten bags containing gold jewellery and cash worth lakhs to the police.

Separately, the SP conducted an awareness session for auto drivers on the dangers of drug abuse, warning that those found consuming, selling, transporting, or storing ganja or other narcotics would face strict legal action. He urged the public to report drug-related information to the toll-free number 1972, Dial 112, or the police WhatsApp number 9121102266, assuring informants of full confidentiality.