I couldn’t find an English language source, so here are some excerpts from the German one, translated with deepl [Stuff in brackets are additions by me]:
Wiesbanden bus driver Antonio Lopes recently got a yellow button next to his steering wheel: if he sees a parking offender blocking the bus lane or a bus stop, he can trigger the front camera. […] The images are sent to the traffic authorities. Drivers face a fine of around 70 euros. If they park in an environmental lane that is only intended for buses and bicycles, they will also receive a point in Flensburg. [Collect too many points and you loose your drivers licence]
The camera photographs the parking sorcerer, and the vehicle owner will eventually receive mail with a fine notice.
My browser is good at translating
This is probably better than my proposal of a big plow on the front of the bus that just destroys the blocking car.
The other day I saw a whole intersection (in NYC) blocked up because some asshole was double parked, which blocked the bus, which blocked me on a bike and all the car traffic from proceeding through the intersection.
It’d be cool if cyclists could sign up for a program like this. Just a little box on the handlebars that you press a button and it takes and sends a picture
My city has an app for submitting traffic complaints that automatically grabs your location and asks for a photo of the offending vehicle and plate - and they’ve actually followed-up by sending people to confirm the violation and issue tickets. I’ve reported so many stupid trucks parked in bike lanes and motorcycles parked on sidewalks lol - carbrains are so obsessed with driving but can’t seem to do it properly ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Here: you dropped this \
They don’t make an SD card large enough for me to take that many photos. I spend almost half of the street portion of my ride dodging cars parked in the bike lane. It’s quite the contrast to when I’m in the woods on single track.
In germany there is weg.li thats is almost as good. It also fills in automatically most of the infos on the cars so you can send the stuff yourself pretty quickly
Wait for drivers to complain about how unfair this is and how the “fine industry” is out there to get them
Carbrains often have a victim complex - anytime they’re penalized or there’s the threat of penalty for doing something stupid and dangerous, they whine and cry and try to skirt the law (tinting windows, radar detectors, license plates that supposedly traffic cams can’t see, etc). Biggest bunch of babies.
Awesome! Every bus should be equipped with this and the yellow button should be used all the time for everything!
If they park in an environmental lane that is only intended for buses and bicycles, they will also receive a point in Flensburg.
Are they parking, or playing a tabletop RPG?
The point system is actually pretty clever, because it solves the issue of rich people just paying their way out. The points allowance is equally scarce for everyone. And it makes the stakes for repeat offenders very clear.
These camera’s could eventually be equipped with AI that will scan for much much more. A jaywalker? Flagged. A public money transaction? Flagged. Going a bit over the speed limit? Flagged. Peeing in a bush? Flagged. Dropping a fry on the ground? Flagged. Drinking a beer a few centimeters off your public property? Flagged.
Do we really want to make the fight against small time crime the most important factor of freedom and privacy?
