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School-run parking can be a nightmare in South Africa. Red or yellow No Stopping/No Parking are ignored - and it's worse come home-time when parents arrive at school early and need to wait.
There are cars all over, irritated drivers bicker, children have to dodge careless drivers - it's a mess.
The problem exists in the UK, too, where jagged painted lines demarcate No Parking areas so vehicle sales company Motorpoint conducted a survey and reported that almost 90% of drivers would support proposals to fine parents who park illegally during the school year.
Those drivers - 86% of more than 4000 respondents, to be accurate - agreed with trials by local authorities to use cameras to identify people stopping on yellow or zigzag lines for more than a few seconds. More than 4000 people completed the survey.
SNAP AND A FINE
A number of town councils tested CCTV-style Videalert systems that record registration plates and relay the details to a control room, leading to fines as high as the equivalent of R2300 can be issued..
Mark Carpenter, managing director of Motorpoint said: “Parking outside schools, particularly during the school year is clearly a thorny issue for many people.
“However, is the introduction of CCTV to effectively police people dropping their children at school the answer? Surely we should be looking at alternatives such as designated drop-off zones away from the school gates, for instance, rather than just penalising parents at the first opportunity.”
Give us your thoughts by Email or on the Readers' Comments section below on whether you think such a system should be implemented in South Africa - and would it work?
There are cars all over, irritated drivers bicker, children have to dodge careless drivers - it's a mess.
The problem exists in the UK, too, where jagged painted lines demarcate No Parking areas so vehicle sales company Motorpoint conducted a survey and reported that almost 90% of drivers would support proposals to fine parents who park illegally during the school year.
Those drivers - 86% of more than 4000 respondents, to be accurate - agreed with trials by local authorities to use cameras to identify people stopping on yellow or zigzag lines for more than a few seconds. More than 4000 people completed the survey.
SNAP AND A FINE
A number of town councils tested CCTV-style Videalert systems that record registration plates and relay the details to a control room, leading to fines as high as the equivalent of R2300 can be issued..
Mark Carpenter, managing director of Motorpoint said: “Parking outside schools, particularly during the school year is clearly a thorny issue for many people.
“However, is the introduction of CCTV to effectively police people dropping their children at school the answer? Surely we should be looking at alternatives such as designated drop-off zones away from the school gates, for instance, rather than just penalising parents at the first opportunity.”
Give us your thoughts by Email or on the Readers' Comments section below on whether you think such a system should be implemented in South Africa - and would it work?
