A DIGITAL SOLUTION
Few parking places are available in municipal areas and parking lots to accommodate visitor vehicles. In order to prevent parking spaces from becoming monopolised by cars, time limitations for parking should be posted, and those who stay too long should be fined. A small chalk mark must be physically applied to a vehicle’s tyre in order to enforce such limits. A fine may be imposed if parking enforcement discovers that chalk mark after the allotted period has passed. This indicates that the driver has overstayed their welcome.
However, chalking tyre treads on vehicles is a time-consuming, labour-intensive process. Parking enforcement officials are required to approach each vehicle and personally apply the chalk mark. They must next slowly examine each vehicle to look for the chalk mark. Additionally, they must have faith that drivers are not simply relocating their cars a few inches to cover up chalk traces or removing them entirely. In summary, the strategy has a lot of drawbacks despite being used for a long time to enforce parking laws.
Fortunately, digital chalking offers a more effective, trustworthy, and legal approach.
By using cameras and vehicle recognition software (VRS), digital chalking can at the very least record when a car parks and the location of the valve stem on one of its tyres. The chalk is replaced by the valve stem location. The mechanism verifies the placement of the valve stem once more after the allotted parking time has gone. The driver may be subject to a fine if the valve stem location has not moved, which would suggest that the car stayed in its parking spot for an excessive amount of time.
The most basic use of digital chalking technology is demonstrated in this instance. More advanced systems can also capture the colour, make, and license plate of the car as well as its GPS location. All of these facts can be used to demonstrate that the car has been parked for an excessive amount of time. The system can even produce and deliver parking citations electronically by connecting directly to DOT databases.
How could this technology be used? It is possible to achieve this in parking lots using stationary cameras that are activated when a car pulls into a parking space. After gathering the relevant information, the VRS starts timing how long the car is parked. In parking lots, the software may even be able to recognise when the vehicle comes and exits without the use of valve stem imaging.
In applications involving on-street parking, stationary cameras can be used. However, a lot of parking enforcement groups favour using either a portable camera utilised by a parking enforcement officer, such one found in a smartphone, or a mobile camera put in an enforcement vehicle. The technology is the one that pulls the heavy lifting in any application. Vehicle data are recorded and timestamped as the parking enforcement vehicle or parking enforcement officer makes its rounds to determine whether the car has parked for an excessive amount of time.
A more reliable and efficient system is the end outcome. As a result, parking enforcement officials will have less work to do, and fewer motorists will be able to game the system.