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Parking for profit, and how we can help

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Written By silkboard - 11 August, 2008

Traffic Bangalore parking suggestion Enforcement

Location, Whitefield. First photo may tell you nothing, whats wrong with parking on the edge of the road anyway. Second one tells you why I clicked it. Blatant, isn't it?

[flickr-photo:id=2752584536,size=m][flickr-photo:id=2751751441,size=m]

We see examples like this everyday. Some of us fools waste time taking pictures. And the rarest of rare, nut cases, take the trouble of sending these to Traffic Police to feel like doing 'their bit'.

What if there was some incentive for mailing these in? New York Police recently announced that they will admit amatuer video as evidence, just send them over via NYPD website. What if Bangalore police - lets start with trafic police - start ed something similar? Here are suggested rules of the game:

  • One photo isn't good enough. Must send at least three from three different angles.
  • Vehicle license plate must be visible from majority of the pics.
  • Above two apply to the video as well - license plate visible, must cover from various angles
  • Sender must be guaranteed anonymity. Police must 'broker' if sender needs to be contacted for more details.
  • Pictures must be emailed within a month of observation.

Now for the problems. How do you know for sure when was the picture/video taken? Is it legally possible to promise anonymity to the senders? And how would you know the precise location of the 'offence'?

How about an incentive for those who mail "successful" evidences like these? A certificate for waiving next 'light' traffic offence!? Or just some cash? Or a chance to have one idea accepted by the traffic police.

We can set something up here on this website with not much effort to collect these 'evidences', and even mail them to the police at regular intervals. But shall we?

COMMENTS

Well, I have been taking

rs - 11 August, 2008 - 16:22

Well, I have been taking photos with my cell phone camera in the hope that something can be done - but I dont really thing anything will do anything. Once I tried to reason with a guy who had blatantly parked his Scorpio on a narrow street opposite to some parked bikes and in front of a no parking sign clogging the road. There was plenty of legal parking about 20 mts away but this guy couldnt be bothered. When I reasoned with him saying 1. Dont you think traffic is bad in Bangalore 2. Isnt there a no parking sign here he said - the city should ban registration of new vehicles and that the sign, which was clearly a legal sign - was put up by the residents so wasnt valid. When I argued a little more he got angry and told me to mind my own business. I of course, took some photos to alleviate my frustration. I think what makes me very pessimistic is that there is no will of the people to make a change - especially in Bangalore. They have this Swalpa adjust madi attitude which is destroying the city. And there is this myth of Indian politeness and hospitality - but the reality is that we are incredibly selfish. People do whatever suits them and could not be bothered to think about anyone else. I dont think this is going to change very easily. The only hope is stringent application of the law - but I dont think we have the will for that. Bangalore Police are too busy shutting down music performances to bother about traffic offenders.

Lets start it here

Bengloorappa - 12 August, 2008 - 10:33

I'd say lets start it right here! Lets make a seperate section which accepts pitcures of all sorts of violations (traffic/FAR, Byelaws/Illegal tree cutting etc etc) minus personal information and vehicle registration numbers.

In the next meeting with Mr Sood, we can show our Crime Database to him and see if he likes the idea and wants to do it himself.

authenticity

narayan82 - 12 August, 2008 - 17:21

I work a lot with Digital images. And to be honest, its scary how real digitally touched or created images can look. We need to find a fool proof method. I totally support the incentive based citizen policing. It is the only way the umpteen number of offences can be tracked. My only apprehension - It should not turn into a mode of income/dependency/making a quick buck. If we could come up with some sort of verification system, that can double check the user's picture with the location, it would be ideal.Or the survailence camera's by the police can compliment the photo sent by the citizen. If we have any digital experts, maybe they can advise us on how the police cn have a system to verify the authenticity of the image?

here is a totally wild idea...gps does not lie

blrpraj - 12 August, 2008 - 17:53

1) Have a centralized database of the city roads in the form of GPS coordinates (gps coordinates sampled at appropriate intervals).

2) Let's say a street has no parking, the database will have entries in the form of coordinates indicating the  no parking.

3) Let's say a car is parked in the no parking zone. The car should be equipped with an RFID number plate and some mechanism where a device pointed at it from close range can extract data like vin number, license plate number, speed, direction the car is pointed etc.

4) Authorized citizen or the police...when they spot the parked car...all they need to do is point the device at the car to gather all the information and relay it to the central system which uses it's database to interpret that the car is in a no parking zone.

5) To make it more effective along with the above data a timestamped photo/video can be transmitted.

Expensive and ambitious idea? Yes, but think of the advantages ->

1) scalabale for moving violations like speeding, violating a one way street etc. by just adding more rules in the centralized system.

2) automated collection of data that can be a goldmine for tracking repeat offenders, used as a reporting tool for authorities to understand the pattern of traffic violations to take corrective actions(corrective actions could be improving signage, more police personnel etc.)

One thing we need to keep in mind is that any long term solution requires some investment. I am sure that with mass production and judicious use of tax money some such system may be possible since quite a lot of this technology exists and what remains is integration, adaptation for this use & proper execution.

mobile ad vehicles

murali772 - 12 August, 2008 - 05:30

These mobile ad vehicles, if you have noticed, always take the busiest of routes and cruise at low speeds, contributing a bigger share than their size to the traffic congestion, since their very purpose is to gain highest visibility for the product advertised. I would like to recommend to the Commissioner to charge a prohibitive level of tax on such contraptions.

Muralidhar Rao

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