Subscribe to RSSParking Wardens Get Camera Car
In a first for NZ traffic infringement, the Wellington City Council is about to start using a dashboard-mounted camera in a car as a new tool to catch parking offenders.
The car is equipped with the camera to take photos of stopping-related offences in areas such as intersections, school and pedestrian crossings, on broken yellow lines and bus stops.
The council says such offending is usually short in duration and therefore not typically picked up by wardens on foot patrol.
Infringement notices will be posted to the vehicle’s registered owner within 48 hours of the image being taken. The photographs will be available for review on request.
The 18-megapixel camera, with a 180-degree fisheye lens, is mounted on the driver’s side of the car. It basically sees what the driver sees and is activated by a shutter button on the door panel.
The car and its associated enforcement duties will cost about $250,000 a year. This includes vehicle lease, running costs and the issuing, collection and court processing of tickets.
Income from ‘ticketing’ is initially estimated to be around $375,000/year. The council expects about 30 tickets will be issued per day - typically for $40 to $60 each.
The camera can operate night and day and in a variety of weather conditions.
The council’s parking enforcement contractor, Tenix, uses similar vehicles in Australia.
The council says the camera car will not replace foot patrols.
6 Comments
I find that people are always stopping in no stop zones at busy intersections and near fire stations. I hope this behaviour puts an end to that.
I also hope that these cameras will make it up suburban streets. I sick of having to walk around cars that are parked on the foot path!
People see it as an invasion of privacy but it’s no different to a mobile parking warden or mobile speed camera.
They should instead try to understand that such selfish behaviour may cause road crashes and even lives.
Councils still stop making a profit from this when people stop making traffic offenses.
@Brent - when you have people parking on the pavement a good way to deal with it is to call the council, they usually send someone out to ticket the car.
We have parking wardens in timaru who actually says hello to the people they ticket! since most of the offenders tend to not bother about hurling abuse at them. (what good sports)
Crazy eh?
Definitely call the council. I called the council (Parkwise) when my way, as a pedestrian, was blocked by by someone who had parked a car completely blocking a footpath. It was no problem for me to walk around it but why should someone with a pushchair or someone infirm have to step out onto the road? The car was towed and pedestrians could proceed without hindrance.
Indeed. Abusing parking wardens should warrant a flogging.
They are just doing their job, making our city work - but unlike police (who also get a lot of abuse), they save only the occasional life, and do so in obscurity (for example by removing cars from dangerous spots blocking sightlines) and thus people think it’s okay to vent their frustrations on them.
I’d wish the WARDENS would have shoulder-mounted cameras and could ticket everyone who swears at them!