A Tailgating Detection System (TDS) will be introduced in the car parks of Singapore from next year against tailgating motorists evading parking charges.
Releasing a press release, Housing and Development Board (HDB) of Singapore said, “TDS, which uses video analytics to identify tailgating vehicles in real time, will enhance enforcement measures against tailgating motorists who attempt to evade parking charges.”
It added, “This process is much more effective and efficient compared to the manual process which can take several hours.”
TDS measures the distance between vehicles as they approach the car park gantries by using a network of sensors located at the exits of the Electronic Parking System (EPS) car parks.
The system instantly records the video footage if tailgating is detected. Information such as the vehicle's details, date and time of the incident will also be recorded. It also has the ability to detect motorcycles which bypass the car park gantries without paying the parking charges, added HDB.
In the present system, the identification of vehicles which tailgate or bypass gantries involve a manual process of scanning CCTV footage and checking the vehicles' payment records.
Parking charges for HDB car parks installed with EPS are based on entry and exit records collected from in-vehicle units (IU) at the gantries. Therefore, when a motorist tailgates another vehicle, no exit record is registered, and no payment is made.
The use of TDS was piloted in May 2017 at two EPS car parks from May to Nov 2017. HDB said it found a total of 130 vehicles at both car parks which had tailgated or bypassed the car park gantries.
HDB added that TDS will be implemented at EPS car parks where there are a higher number of tailgating incidents.