‘Spider video surveillance’ gets activated

JKP ‘Parking Servis’ has today presented the start of a new project ‘Spider video surveillance’ whose primary goal is to improve the traffic safety and make traffic flow in the city as smooth as possible. Additionally, this project aims at improving communication and helping teams in the field make more efficient decisions as well as improving transparency. Having proven its efficiency during the trial period this surveillance system comes into full effect today.

The basis of the system are tow trucks popularly known as ‘spiders’, equipped with field computers which are used by parking attendants in the streets to send photos of illegally parked vehicles to the dispatcher centre. The staff in the centre immediately issue a warrant to the nearest tow truck to remove such vehicles without delay. The warrant for towing the vehicle alongside its photo, location and the precise time of noticing of violation present an undisputable proof of illegal parking and the reasons for immediate towing of the vehicle.

Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas thinks that the chief aim of the project is not collecting fines, but preventing drivers’ arrogance.

- The City of Belgrade has never cooperated with the police better than now in its history. Due to this fact over the last six months we have resolved some things that we have thought were impossible to sort out; such as it was the problem of traffic in Kralja Aleksandra Boulevard. The idea behind this project is not that the tow truck removes as many vehicles as possible making six or seven thousand dinars but to stop arrogant behaviour of the drivers who think they are beyond the law. Now we have a system which makes it possible to control the whole city from one place. If there are, for example, ten illegally parked cars we will tow away the one which most threatens the smooth flow of traffic. Three cars illegally parked in the right lane in Kralja Aleksandra Boulevard decrease the flow of traffic by tens of percent and we can not allow that. Our intention is to finally bring in order in the City and together with the police we are working on that. We are waiting for the law which will make it possible to put our intentions into practice and make our job much easier – says Djilas.

‘Parking Servis’ CEO Boban Kovacevic points out that the system has successfully run during the one year trial period and it is expected that when it comes into full effect the City will ‘breathe’ more smoothly.

- Our long term intention is to make a system which will enable our attendants to fine anybody who obstructs traffic, i.e. to make the process of collecting fines as short as possible. While we are waiting for this, JKP ‘Parking Servis’ teams will send photos of illegally parked cars from the whole city and the chief controller will then make a decision which vehicle first to tow away – explains Kovacevic.

He announced that the citizens themselves will be able to send photos of illegally parked cars and in such a way arrogant drivers will be more efficiently punished and smooth traffic flow maintained.

Stojadin Jovanovic, Chief of Traffic Police Deparment is of the same opinion, and he points out that ‘Spider video surveillance’ will bring to an end bribing of traffic policemen and communal inspectors because all the information will be stored in the ‘Parking Servis’ central computer.

By putting ‘Spider video surveillance’ system into practice, safety of all participants in traffic will improve and communal order will be maintained with better efficiency. The whole procedure of noticing illegally parked vehicles and issuing warranties for their towing is now being centralized and controlled by a system of double check of field information as well as being stored electronically.

This project is first of its kind and it is a result of JKP ‘Parking Servis’ efforts to find a competent solution for the problem of illegally and unsafely parked vehicles.