Following our article last week on the explosion of mobile technology and applications designed to assist with finding parking spaces (see ‘Parking mobile technology takes off’ here), we came across yet another development in the USA.
We find this one particularly interesting, as it uses information (freely released by Baltimore City officials on the internet) to calculate the odds of receiving a ticket, based on historical data.
The web application, called SpotAgent, allows a user to type in an address and then learn the probability of getting a ticket there, including information on the worst day of the week to park on any given block, as well as the cost of the average fine for parking violations and from red-light and speed cameras.
The app provides a ‘threat rating’, based on the history of fines and calculating the likelihood of getting a ticket.
Where is this all going you may very well ask? A local council advertising its own inefficiencies? A ploy to lure customers into a false sense of security in order to multiply the number of victims to catch unawares? The Pedestrian Council of Austalia’s chairman recently raised the possibility of setting up an independent government enquiry to investigate whether parking rangers use infringements to help improve road safety or simply raise revenue…. Is anything in life that simple or black and white?