Safe Speed Forums

I saw an announcement recently of a new type of parking meter which photographs the number plate of the car on arrival and automatically issues a fine if the car overstays by a few seconds. It's a sort of non-speed camera It monitors two spaces and costs a bargain £3000 each.

Shame the inventors hadn't allowed for, say, adhesive labels or spray paint over the lenses (which are at low level). As these meters will themselves need monitoring this is a colossal waste of money.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

This was discussed on PH a few weeks ago.

Why do they have to fine you if you overstay?

If the machines can record the excact time that you arrive, why not programme them so that you have to pay for the parking just before you leave, so that you pay for the actual time that you have used the parking bay for.

Obviously if you drive away without paying at all or overstay the maximum time allowed (2 to 4 hours depending on area) then a fine, in the usual manner, would not be unreasonable.

This would be a much fairer system and would only fine those who purposefully don't pay or overstay and would not fine those who, at the present time, get a penalty if they are 5 minutes late getting back to their car after 2 hours of shopping, etc.

However, as this would decrease revenue for the councils I doubt that this fairer system would ever be introduced.

Excellent point.

[quote="Mandat"]This was discussed on PH a few weeks ago.

Why do they have to fine you if you overstay?

If the machines can record the excact time that you arrive, why not programme them so that you have to pay for the parking just before you leave, so that you pay for the actual time that you have used the parking bay for.

quote]



More profit in the prepay system - Motorist A expects to park for half an hour, so pays a little extra to cover the chance that he'll take longer and avoid a fine , he's back in less than half an hour so Motorist B gets his space and as transferring is a nono, B pays for the time that A has overpaid for.If A is back late , then a nice juicy fine - a nice win win situation for the LA.
Least thats my cynical view of the situation.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

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I can’t use parking systems which remove the chance of serendipity. I don’t necessarily plan how long I want to stay when I go to a town. It may be an hour, or it could be all day – it depends how it goes.

So I never use ‘pay and display’ or meters and what have you. I avoid the towns entirely, and go to the country or elsewhere, or find a residential road miles away and go in on foot or by bike. This policy has saved me a bundle of money over the years, and I’ve had a lot of good exercise without paying for it at a gym. And, as a shareholder in Tesco’s, I’d recommend that you all avoid town-councils wherever you can. Hit them where it hurts – in the pocket. Buy your stuff at Tesco’s and on-line – get the traders battling with the town council, which is how it should be.

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I stole this .sig

I must admit, its rare I ever pay for parking. If I have to go into town for something (and I'm not one to 'just pop in for an hour or so') I'll go in on the bike so I can park up anywhere. That way I don't have to pay AND I uaually get closer to where I want to be rather than having to walk half a mile from the carpark to my destination.

It irritates me that there is a lack of very short term parking in most towns - I don't want to have to pay for an hour's parking when I know I'm only going to be 5 minutes. OK so its only 90p, but its the principle.

The other question is, how are these 'smart-meters' going to read disabled badges? Will a disabled person wishing to park next to one have a special swipe-card or similar, or will the registration numbers of all vehicles issued with disabled badges have to be registered to avoid the fines?

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

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