Finding cars parked incorrectly in parking spots is a common problem in Spain, both in public and private parking lots, as well as on the roads. Vehicles also double park for too long or park in spots where they are not authorized to do so because they are reserved for specific groups or are for loading and unloading. Therefore, it is necessary to provide solutions to ensure compliance with street parking regulations.
Whatever drivers’ situation and wishes, Spain has regulations for parking vehicles which must be complied with. They pertain to the places where you can park and the correct way to do it, that is, without blocking vehicle movement or pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks.
To be precise, the General Traffic Regulations of the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) mention the term parking, which occurs when vehicles are voluntarily immobilized for more than two minutes, while a stop lasts less than two minutes, with the driver inside the vehicle.
Without explaining the correct way to park and how to execute the maneuver, at Urbiotica we do want to address the important issue of enforcing parking regulations on public roads. What technological and digital solutions are there to ensure compliance with urban mobility regulations?
Technologies for ensuring compliance with street parking regulations
In Spain there are different types of places where parking is allowed: the street, public parking lots, or regulated parking areas. For each of them, there are different technologies to ensure compliance with parking regulations; some are managed by the Public Administrations and others by concessionary or private companies.
As a company specialized in Smart Parking and smart urban mobility solutions, we want to explain the solutions that can be used to ensure correct parking and the proper use of parking spots in cities. These are apps that complement systems that detect free parking spots and parking lot guidance systems.
In fact, surveillance uses different technologies, including sensors or cameras that detect the vehicles entering and leaving the spots. They are highly effective in detecting vehicles not authorized to occupy a parking spot; they send digital notifications and alerts when a driver parks without being authorized to do so or overstays their time without paying for it.
We also mention a very important point: parking spot surveillance must always be based on respect for data protection and driver privacy.
Urban parking guidance
MONITORING parking on public roads
The largest number of parking operations occur in the spots available on the curb on public roads; in fact, one real problem is that there is very little room to park in cities, coupled with the unauthorized use of reserved parking spots.
Violations occur in street parking, such as leaving the car double parked without the driver inside for more than two minutes, not paying for parking in a regulated spot or overstaying the time allowed in those spots.
How can you efficiently keep watch over parking spots on public roads? There are several ways, such as implementing parking monitoring systems to ensure compliance with parking regulations. These solutions reduce fraud and monitor the correct use of parking spots for loading and unloading and other cases that we will mention later.
MONITORING regulated parking
Secondly, we want to talk about monitoring regulated parking through mobile apps and web platforms. Regulated parking areas such as the Regulated Parking Service (SER) in Madrid are forms of management, regulation and monitoring in certain areas on the streets. These allow city councils and other companies to rationalize the use of public space and make it compatible with vehicle parking.
This method is therefore intended to organize mobility in cities rationally, such as by using parking meters offering a personalized vehicle registration service, and distinguishing spots with a specific color, such as blue lines, at certain times of day.
The digitization of regulated parking monitoring is an effective solution. There are currently solutions that include functions and alerts to inform surveillance personnel when parking spots are used without authorization or incorrectly, shifting from a monitoring model based on predefined routes to another by zones and based on alerts. Particularly innovative is pay by spot management, which reports where each user parks and creates alerts for each spot when the regulations are violated.
We also highlight limited-time parking spot monitoring systems, which are very useful for towns with fewer than 500 spots. In these cases, these solutions favor urban mobility when it makes no sense to have paid parking spots, given that the cost of running them would exceed the income earned from them.
MONITORING reserved places
Some spots are reserved for specific groups, such as parking spots reserved for people with reduced mobility (PRM) or set aside for loading and unloading for transport or goods companies. How can the correct use of such spots be guaranteed? With solutions that include the installation of sensors and communication networks with notifications and alerts when the spots are used fraudulently or without authorization.
Occupancy detection sensors are anonymous, do not store personal information on drivers or vehicles and only detect whether there are cars parked without PMR cards or companies authorized to unload and unload goods. What happens when an unauthorized driver uses a reserved parking spot? An alert is sent to the parking surveillance service, enabling violations to be identified instantly and reliably.
With smart platforms that manage data and information in real time, these technological innovations reduce parking violations and end up being a powerful deterrent for unauthorized users.
The future of the enforcement of street parking regulations
What has been explained in this article is a sign that when civility and respect for drivers are lacking, there are technological tools that enable to rules to be enforced, in this specific case those related to parking on the streets to ensure proper management of parking lots and improve urban mobility.
At Urbiotica, we have developed different apps and solutions aimed at this problem, and specifically at monitoring regulated parking spots. The aim of Parkctrl is to help parking lot managers maintain rational order and partly serve as a deterrent, to ensure that the rules are observed and proper coexistence is encouraged from drivers of all types of vehicles.
Thus, technology and the latest solutions based on advanced communications, the Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor or camera detection are essential to ensure compliance with street parking regulations.
