Park Safe
Monitoring on-street parking supports convenient access to city locations, keeps the city safe and ensures effective traffic flow. The council’s role in regulating parking in the city is about people, not penalties.
Licence plate recognition – Park Safe vehicles
Since 2021, the City of Adelaide has used mobile parking technology to encourage motorists to do the right thing and park safely.
Council’s ‘Park Safe’ vehicle has mounted cameras which are used in monitoring high-impact areas. The technology scans the surrounding area and takes high quality photographs when a vehicle is observed to meet specific criteria set by Council. This information is reviewed by a Parking and Information Officer to verify whether an offence has occurred.
If a trained Officer reviews the evidence and confirms a breach has been committed, an expiation is posted out to the vehicle’s registered owner, outlining the details of the offence with photographs and other relevant information.
This technology is being used in other major council areas such Brisbane, Logan, Ipswich, Gold Coast, and Geelong.
Why are we using this technology?
Park Safe’s smart technology is supporting Officers to monitor more areas of the city, contributing to improved traffic flow and parking access. This has been particularly evident in areas such as Bus Lanes, No Stopping Zones and Residential Permit Zones.
Using technology to reduce manual processes and create efficiencies occurs across almost every industry. Within compliance monitoring, Council’s ability to deliver the existing function more efficiently is allowing ratepayer funds to be dedicated to other core community services.
The technology assists with improving compliance in high-demand areas to support:
- local businesses and residents by ensuring fair and consistent access to short-term parking.
- vehicle turnover and opportunity for all drivers to locate a parking space.
- Council’s Strategic Plan outcome of lower carbon emissions through reduced traffic congestion.
Common parking mistakes
So, what are the most common parking mistakes?
- Parking for longer than the permitted time limit allows
- Not having a valid ticket in a ticketed parking area
- Parking in a bus, loading or permit zone without meeting the correct zoning requirements
Did you know?
The City of Adelaide has the highest number of on-street parking bays per capita in Australia.
Council current operates one Park Safe vehicle with Officers on foot monitoring on-street parking across the city and North Adelaide. While the technology assists in collecting evidence, trained Officers analyse all photographs to determine action, if any, should be taken.
Council rates and fines primarily fund a wide range of essential services and infrastructure for the local community. These include maintaining roads, libraries, parks, and community facilities, as well as providing waste collection, planning services, and more.
FAQs
- Instead of walking the streets of the city and North Adelaide, our Parking and Information Officers drive a car fitted with vehicle-mounted cameras.
- The vehicle-mounted cameras scan the surrounding area and take high quality photographs when an object is observed to meet specific criteria set by Council.
- Officers analyse the photographs and determine the best course of action to address the matter.
- Parking expiations that are issued using this technology are mailed to the registered vehicle owner. It may take up to 2 weeks for an infringement notice to be received in the mail.
- Information relating to vehicles which are not illegally parked is purged from the system. All information is handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.
The compliance vehicle will improve the working conditions for our staff, while keeping them safe from verbal and physical abuse. We want Adelaide to be a Smart City, utilising the best technology available to provide a greater experience for everyone.
The technology is able to scan the surrounds and identify illegally parked cars, dumped rubbish, and e-scooters whilst simultaneously blurring people’s faces to protect their privacy.
The compliance vehicle is currently monitoring bus zones and lanes, yellow lines, and no-stopping zones, which have the biggest impact on traffic flow. We are now expanding our monitoring efforts to include residential permit zones. Over time, we will also incorporate school zones and additional areas. Additionally, the vehicle can notify staff about dumped rubbish and incorrectly parked e-scooters.
Park Safe takes high quality photos and will track the duration a vehicle remains in a parking bay. If a vehicle stays beyond the allowed time limit, the technology issues an alert and the images are analysed by a Parking and Information Officer to determine if an expiation notice should be issued. Parking expiations issued using this technology are mailed to the registered vehicle owner.