Company who brought us Meter - Eye now targets the disabled bay abusers.

The New Zealand tech company that brought us the Meter-Eye, and has flatteringly been copied around the world, has now brought us a sensor that will allow for disabled bay abusers to be caught and infringed automatically.  Ingeniously simple and set up to have maximum uptake and marketing affect, the system should revolutionise the compliance side of disabled bay parking.

The Good - disabled bay abusers will get infringed immediately if they don’t have the right transponder in their vehicle.  The in-bay sensor will interrogate the vehicle as it sets itself over the top of the sensor, and if an in-car transponder doesn’t reply, then a message will be sent to the local enforcement team to attend and issue an infringement notice.

Also, uptake will be automatic, as the people who utilise the bays will want to have a transponder in their vehicles.  Uptake will be like a wildfire out of control.

The Bad - The sound of the people bellowing at local municipal authorities, large chains and the smallest of retail outlets will be deafening and create another item in the cold war style of technology one-upmanship.  Even authorities that can’t afford the new technology will be chastised by its citizens to keep up.

The abusers who do have the in car transponders, that is people who are NOT using the cars for the legitimate purpose of transporting a disabled user, will also get best seats in the house.  Nothing can be done about this abuse.

All in all, this is a great first step and the technology will be improved upon and the breadth of the technology will allow for the 'idea' to sprout up in other areas unrelated to disabled parking.

Kevin Warwood

Sensor tech Company Targets Parking Rogues

New Zealand Company Car Parking Technologies has created a product that uses sensors and electronic tags to locate and fine motorists who are illegally parked.   The kit could also signal the end of residential permits on dashboards and parking meters, company managing director Paul Collins said.  ''If everyone has a chip in their vehicle, we know who they are,'' he said. ''If that chip is aligned to some form of credit card or phone service, you just top up your tag.''

While such residential developments are still a year away, the disabled parking technology is now being tested in Britain by the City of Edinburgh and supermarket chain Sainsbury's.  And the company, whose chairman is the Computershare founder Chris Morris, will soon start talks with Australian airports, hospitals, shopping centres and councils.  Instead of carrying disabled parking permits, drivers carry electronic tags that are read by sensors in parking bays.  If the sensors cannot detect a tag, they send a message to parking officers, who issue fines.

The technology would change people's behaviour, Collins said.  ''There has always been an issue with disabled parking,'' he added. ''People will look at these disabled parks and say, 'I am going to get caught, I'm not going to park there'.  ''When we put sensors in, the abuse goes down immediately.''  The technology would also eliminate the need for parking inspectors to constantly patrol the streets, Collins said.

Sandi Havekotte, whose 13-year-old son Aidan has cerebral palsy, said she often struggled to find a disabled parking space.  ''A few years ago we arrived at a shopping centre and a lovely shiny red convertible pulled next to us in a disabled spot,'' she said.  ''He was young and athletic and had just ducked into the bank. My younger son, Ryan, who was eight at the time, told him off. There was no apology.'' 

Disability organisation Scope said a growing number of people were misusing disabled parking bays.
''It is always a cause of frustration for people we support,'' Scope business enterprise general manager Tom Baxter said.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/6198352/Sensor-tech-targets-parking-rogues