Council begins ‘number-plate recognition’ parking fine trial

Orange drivers who over-stay their welcome by exceeding the parking time-limit in the city’s main shopping area will be much more likely to get a ticket now that a trial of the ‘number-plate recognition’ (NPR) system has begun (29 February).

The good news: Drivers will only find a warning on their windscreen, if their car is detected by the NPR system, and they won’t have to pay a fine while the two week trial lasts. (During the trial, infringement notices issued by rangers on foot patrols will incur a fine as usual.)

Orange mayor John Davis said the new scheme is about sharing the available parking spaces fairly.

“We have time-limited parking zones so that the available parking spaces around our shopping districts can be shared fairly between all shoppers,” Cr John Davis said. “By making sure we have a steady turn-over of parked cars, that will keep a steady stream of customers coming through the doors of local shops and make parking more convenient for shoppers.”

“There’s a popular myth that this change is about raising more money from parking fines. I’d be happy if the drivers of Orange learned that they now had almost no chance of getting away with over-staying the parking time-limit, and that the revenue from parking fines dropped to zero.”

“The big change is that it will be much more likely that a driver who over-stays the parking time-limit will be caught,” Cr John Davis said. “The council has three parking patrol officers who previously had to cover the entire CBD on foot marking car tyres with chalk. It’s estimated that the new NPR system will be able to monitor more than a thousand parked cars an hour.”

The City of Orange Traffic Committee chair, Cr Russell Turner said the next two weeks will be the chance when some drivers will need to explore new places to park.

“When Orange drivers find a warning note under their windscreen wipers in the coming weeks, it will be the trigger that their parking habits will have to change,” Cr Russell Turner said.

“For all-day CBD parkers, I hope they’ll be starting to look further afield to find new places to park. There are a number of under used car parks on the fringes of the CBD such as the Little Summer St car park behind the fire station or the railway car park in Peisley Street. There are many streets a block away from the CBD with no time limits.”

“When Bathurst City Council introduced this system two years back, there was a sudden jump in the number of parking fines, but over time the number of tickets has reduced where now there are far few parking fines in Bathurst, compared to Orange.”

Orange City Council is using the ‘PInforce’ NPR system, which was installed earlier this month by Sydney-based firm DCA. The technology is also known as a ‘License Plate Recognition’ (LPR) system.

TRIAL : Traffic Committee chair, Cr Russell Turner checks out the new mobile parking patrol car with parking patrol officers Lee Snell and Ray Coleman, together with Mayor John Davis.

Find out more at : www.orange.nsw.gov.au/parking