TEA SYSTEM CURBS ILLEGAL PARKING

SINGAPORE - Business executive Timothy Lim, 35 used to face traffic jams every morning whiled raving to his beach road workplace. but, thanks to a land transport authority (LTA) trial - where closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera systems were deployed to tackle illegal parking problems - tour buses parked illegally near Golden Mile Complex are no longer a common sight. 

 

Said Mr. Lim: "When you have one lane taken up by (parked) buses, obviously there will be jams along the other two lanes of the road."

The LTA had reportedly called a tender in September last year for the trial. It was started two months later and is scheduled to be completed in July.

 

The other location involved in the trial is a slip road at marine parade central beside parkway parade.  Marine parade resident Vincent Sim, 41 also vouched for the effectiveness of the CCTV cameras. I do not see much illegal parking here now. He said.

 

Responding to Today's queries, an LTA spokesperson said that the preliminary data has shown some positive results, with a higher detect rate of illegal parking offenses.

 

She added that it is exploring technological solutions to supplement warden enforcement and enhance the effectiveness of curbing illegal parking. Currently, the LTA deploys outsourced traffic wardens and its enforcement officers to carry out regular patrols to look out for drives who park illegally and obstruct traffic flow and they can be deployed to any area where enforcement action is required.

 

The trial is part of our continual efforts to explore the use of technology to alleviate the problems of illegal parking. We hope that this will encourage motorists to comply with the parking rules and reduce illegal on our roads." the spokesperson added.

 

Last year on average, about 25,000 summonses were issued every month for enforcement of illegal parking. This is similar to the monthly average number of summonses issued by the traffic police from 2007 till 2010, when the LTA took over the responsibility.

 

On whether the CCTV system would be extended to housing estates, the LTA spokesperson pointed out that the trial's objective was to asses the suitability of deploying CCTV's as a supplementary enforcement tool and hence it focused on the technical and operational aspects.

 

She added that the LTA will study the results of the trial and assess the effectiveness and efficiency of deploying a CCTV camera system on a wider scale for enforcement against "key offenses", including illegal parking.