In This Section
Licence plate recognition technology combines advanced high speed digital cameras together with GPS and optical character recognition software to identify and read number plates on vehicles.
The technology can scan over 1,000 vehicles per hour and is customised to read Australian and New Zealand number plates. The parking enforcement camera vehicle will drive designated routes in designated enforcement areas. As the vehicle drives along, it reads the licence plate number of a parked vehicle while simultaneously taking pictures of the vehicle.
The technology electronically chalks each vehicle it passes and alerts the ranger to any offending vehicles after the parking restriction has lapsed. These offending vehicles are then verified before the penalty notice is confirmed.The technology is also capable of providing warnings about vehicles of interest, including stolen vehicles to report back to NSW Police.
The technology will be on trial in the Shoalhaven for three months from 00:01am on the 17 December 2022 until 23:59pm on the 10 March 2023. When the trial expires, information and data collected will be analysed and a report will be presented to Council for determination whether the system will be implemented ongoing.
Rangers will be using licence plate recognition in already patrolled areas in Berry, Nowra, Huskisson, Hyams Beach, Milton and Ulladulla.
Maps of enforcement areas
Our holiday and peak seasons on the Shoalhaven are loved by residents and visitors alike. With over 3 million visitors annually, we see an increase of up to 160% in vehicles in the region, making parking a big issue. Keeping vehicle turnover in key areas allows equal access to our local businesses and beautiful public open spaces in times of high demand. The program assists Council in its regulatory parking functions to allow residents and visitors to have fair and equal access to our local businesses, as well as give everyone the chance to take in our parks and beaches.
The technology allows rangers to cover larger areas of Shoalhaven, detecting more offences in areas of higher risk, such as no stopping, no parking and school zones. This will increase productivity and streamline processes, so rangers can be deployed to other areas to better serve the community.
Further, the technology will improve officer safety by removing the need to be physically located in moving traffic, reduce physical stress and minimise instances of violence and aggression towards parking rangers.
Information collected from the trial is the same rangers would collect manually. The ranger vehicle is highly visible and marked-up with clear signs to identify it as a camera parking vehicle.
Disabled car park spaces are manually checked by rangers during parking enforcement to ensure that the vehicle has a valid and visible permit.
Any vehicle identified as overstaying in a marked, timed car park space will be physically checked by the ranger to ensure that a valid permit is visible. If a permit is visible and valid, then no fine will be issued.
Rangers will have the option of issuing fines on the spot or by mail. Rangers have an agreement in place with Revenue NSW to use the print and post process. Owners of vehicles identified to be committing an offence will receive a letter from Revenue NSW identifying the date, time, location and offence alleged to have been committed.
There is a review process that allows anyone who has been issued a fine to make representations if the fine has been issued incorrectly, or there are circumstances that should be considered for revocation of the fine. Details of this review process and how to make representations are available on the Revenue NSW website.