Technology and parking have a complicated relationship. In some areas, technology is embraced; in other areas, it is reviled. Sometimes, technology is used in ways that undermine parking regulations; and sometimes it is used to support them.
Lately, a Folsom, California technology company is creating technology to enforce handicapped-placard parking laws. Handicapped parking fraud is an area where the only solution so far has been physical enforcement. Now, technology has entered the scene. According to the Sacramento Business Journal:
Pondera Solutions develops waste detection and fraud detection technologies using Google analytical tools. The company can use those techniques to detect illegal use of placards by quickly sifting through huge datasets to alert agencies to which cases merit further investigation.
The technology monitors the doctors who issue handicapped placards by verifying they are actual doctors and it tracks Department of Motor Vehicles data to check up on users who renew placards frequently.
It is reported that one in 10 California drivers has a handicapped parking placard – an astounding number.
Pondera CEO Jon Coss said in a news release. “Misuse is not good for businesses, it is not good for governments and it is not good for the disabled who actually need to use these spaces.”
Here’s a place where technology, although complicated, creates a simple solution for a major parking problem.
Read the entire article here.
2 Responses
Great, but BY FAR the most common misuse of placards is using someone else’s valid placard, which is pretty much invisible to enforcement agents, any software programs or anything else. The ones they are aiming to discover or fix are not even the low hanging fruit; they’re the fruit that has fallen to the ground. Wile it’s a great idea and would stop a small percentage of the most egregious cases of abuse, it is absolutely not even close to an effective solution for the problem.
Too bad – but hopefully the effort inspires more ideas to address this issue.