New vehicle-mounted licence plate recognition cameras are being trialled in the Shoalhaven for three months to help patrol illegally parked cars.
The new technology will allow Ranger Services to patrol 30-times more area by vehicle than they are currently able to do on foot to reduce the number of illegally parked cars and increase access to car parking spaces across the city.
"The volume of vehicles in our town centres increases almost 160 per cent during summer and sometimes compromises access and safety in and around residential streets and business centres," said Director City Development, James Ruprai.
"Trialling this smart technology will enable us to visibly move through more areas and encourage more people to abide by the rules and park their cars safely," Mr Ruprai said.
"When school returns, we will also be using this technology to target illegal parking around our school zones to encourage children and pedestrian safety," he said.
These areas have a high volume of pedestrian traffic and ensuring crossings and visibility, such as reducing parking in school drop off areas are not obscured, is critical for safety.
The trial will begin on Saturday 17 December and focus on areas in Berry, Nowra, Huskisson, Milton, Ulladulla and Hyams Beach areas where identified safety risks exist, and vehicle turnover is needed to help us to help local businesses to keep trade moving.
The licence plate recognition technology uses a vehicle-mounted camera to take pictures of cars with GPS location and timestamping to determine whether they have overstayed their parking limit or have parked illegally.
The ranger vehicle will be highly visible and marked up with clear signs to identify it as a camera parking vehicle.
Infringement tickets issued using the new technology will be sent to the registered driver using the Revenue NSW - Print and Post mailout system, integrating with the automated system and reducing foot patrols and manually generated tickets.
