To deter bad parking outside schools, Bournemouth Borough Council is deploying CCTV-based enforcement. Six cameras will be deployed as part of a year-long trial scheme at an initial three schools where illegal parking on the yellow ‘keep clears’ has been identified as putting children’s lives in danger.
Elaine Smith, Deputy Parking Services Manager at Bournemouth says: “The zig zag lines provided outside our schools are there to protect our children, making the road safer to cross. We have in the past tried using camera cars but it is hoped that using fixed CCTV cameras will prove to be more effective in changing the anti-social behaviour of those who drop off and pick up their children in restricted areas.”
The trial product is Videalert’s CEaaS. The product firm says that does not require the procurement and deployment of any equipment within Bournemouth’s IT infrastructure or software to be installed on local PCs for evidence pack review. A PTZ camera installed on a lamp post monitors the ‘keep clear’ zones and automatically captures only the drivers that are stationary in defined ‘watch areas’ and exceed the ‘watch times’. The system combines automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) with video analytics.
Council staff can access and review evidence packs using standard web browsers before sending confirmed offences to the back office processing system where PCNs are issued. Videalert is providing Bournemouth Borough Council with a dedicated virtual server; with cloud storage used for backup.
Tim Daniels, Sales and Marketing Director of Videalert said: “Outsourcing to a hosted enforcement environment enables councils to improve efficiency, maximise productivity and maintain greater control over costs. This innovative solution also allows for other civil traffic enforcement requirements, such as bus lanes, to be easily and rapidly added as well as providing a platform for delivering traffic management and community safety applications simultaneously without needing a major IT infrastructure project.”
