"The sensors are expected to earn the city an extra $11.82 million after four years"
Maybe that $11.82 AU will help the police there to fight crime.
I’m sure more than a few of us have been, on occasion, and for whatever reason, unable to move a parked car before the meter expired.
But if you’re in Melbourne, Australia you probably wouldn’t want to chance it. That’s because city officials plan to swiftly implement new technologies that will help officers crack down on unlawful parking.
In July, city workers will begin installing in-ground sensors that alerts the local parking authorities whenever it detects that a car has remained parked five minutes beyond the metered time. The sensors are expected to earn the city an extra $11.82 million after four years, according to Australian newspaper The Age.
The paper reported that a detailed, written recommendation of the technology to the city council was classified as confidential.
City officials will also start equipping parking enforcement vehicles with “license plate recognition technology” that consists of a high speed digital camera, integrated GPS system and optical character recognition software to identify cars that stay parked beyond a certain allowable time frame in residential areas. During patrol, the system records a vehicles license plate number and uses it to detect if the vehicle was later found to be in violation.
There hasn’t been any word on whether any cities in the U.S. are considering upgrading to a similar technology. So far, in-ground sensors have only been used in a few cities like Los Angeles to notify drivers when and where a street parking spot becomes available. But imagine just much easier it would be for everybody to find parking if designated parking areas were retrofitted with both technologies. Now there’s a thought.
(via City of Melbourne, Australia)
Photo: City of Newport, Rhode Island
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