ParkingEye

Britain’s traffic wardens are employing artificial intelligence in their continuous battle with the inconsiderate motorist – not that you’d know it. The device they are using is called a ParkingEye and is disguised as an ordinary pay-and-display ticket machine.

The ParkingEye, which was created by a satellite launch systems designer called Rusty Thomas, has already proved remarkably successful in the USA. It is a CCTV-based system that immediately alerts the relevant authorities when it spots a motorist who hasn’t paid for parking or has exceeded the free parking limit. An attendant is then dispatched, via text message, to the scene to administer the appropriate penalty.

Several London boroughs are now using the ParkingEye, with its high-resolution camera. The secret machines are available with a number of bolt-on systems that further enhance their parking enforcement capabilities. These include number plate recognition (NPR), which captures a vehicle’s unique details and then automatically issues a parking ticket, removing the need for a traffic warden to attend the scene.

‘Traffic wardens won’t roam any more. They will respond,’ says Andrew McKerney, chief executive of the manufacturer, ParkingEye Ltd (http://www.parkingeye.com).

However, NPR can only be effectively used on off-road sites. The ParkingEye, which can be integrated into an existing CCTV or pay-and-display setup, cannot prove that a car has broken road traffic laws, meaning cars parked illegally on public roads still have to be given tickets by human attendants.

For this reason, some local authorities issue their traffic wardens with handheld camera-computers to record the position of the offending vehicle. A copy of the photo is then stuck to the car’s windscreen along with a parking ticket.

Such measures circumvent tactics employed by many motorists to avoid or delay paying parking fines. Use of technology like ParkingEye (described by its manufacturer as ‘a bit Big Brother’) means drivers can no longer argue that the parking enforcement authorities have not properly carried out the required procedures or have fingered the wrong person.