Dublin City Council is set to install cameras that will detect motorists who drive or park in cycle lanes.
While cameras have long been used across the country to
catch drivers speeding, the pilot set for Dublin will be the first time cameras
will catch those parking or driving in cycle-bus lanes.
The Garda regularly shares social media posts showing drivers being caught parking in cycle lanes and just over 3,000 drivers have been caught driving in cycle-bus lanes in Dublin in the first nine months of this year.
However, cyclists have been left very frustrated at the
manner in which motorists still park and drive on cycle lanes.
Just days ago a father shared videos of his young son cycling to school and being placed in significant danger by drivers parking in cycle lanes.
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Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has also previously spoken out and wondered why so many drivers were parking in cycle lanes. However, he has been quiet on the issue more recently.
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Now Dublin City Council is set to roll out a pilot scheme
using cameras to catch offenders. The cameras will record the drivers and
record the registration of their vehicles.
Jamie Cudden, head of the Smart Cities programme at
Dublin City Council, has said the pilot details were still being worked on but
it was planned to launch it in the first half of next year.
“It’s automatic number plate recognition to make bus lanes and cycles lanes work and solve the problems we have with them,” he told TheJournal.ie.
“We need a joined-up process. If you’re spending money
putting these cameras in and they take the number plates, well then you need to
process that.
“You need to figure out where that fine goes, who manages
that fine, where does the money go when it is paid, and who pays to look after
the infrastructure.
“If you think about it, it’s garda traffic who manage
enforcement of that, it’s not city council management that enforce that. So it
comes down to the question who pays for the technology.
“The benefit is for everyone but sometimes that’s not the
conversation that happens because everyone works in silos.”
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