Parking bays with meters are often a pesky part of our lives that we have to live with, especially when you’re in a rush for an appointment and lost the sanity of mind to feed the meter with a few coins. More often than not, you tend to insert less coins as you underestimate the tardiness of the other party whom you’re supposed to meet up with, resulting in a lovely “invitation” from the local municipal council to have a tête-à-tête with your bank account due to your negligence and forgetfulness. The invention of the PhotoViolationMeter could see an end to such situations, since this is a networked parking meter solution that aims to introduce some semblance of efficiency and fairness to all parties involved, ranging from civilians to the municipalities.

The PhotoViolationMeter offers a low maintenance wireless system that is smart enough to detect just when you’re parked in the bay, letting you pay the exact amount as required and not a penny more (or less). The brainchild of Photo Violation Technologies Corp. (PVT), this unique system offers different payment options to customers, where coin and credit card being the most obvious choices. The meter comes with an in-ground sensor that detects exactly when a vehicle drives away, and its wireless network capability offers instant, real-time authorization of the customer’s credit card(s). This allows you to park without setting a reminder of when you need to feed the meter with more coins while sitting in the midst of a corporate meeting. Of course, I still wonder what happens when you’ve reached your credit card limit - will you be slapped with a fine then?

From the municipalities’ point of view, their enforcement officers will have less to do while simplifying revenue collection. These personnel can then concentrate on parking violators instead of worrying which meters are being fed to further increase revenue. I just hope vandals won’t be able to do a number on these meters when they’re fully implemented nationwide.

Source: Gizmag