Technology sought to deter illegal parking in the city

Waltham could get a new tool to curb illegal parking.

Ward 7 Councilor Paul S. Katz at Monday’s City Council meeting sponsored a request to explore implementing a technology that could deter drivers from illegally parking cars on the street.

The technology, called SafetyStick, can detect problem parking and issue violations. 

Katz said the council needs to take action to curb the volume of illegal parking, saying that vehicles are double parking and parking in no-parking zones and bus stop lanes as well as parking in ways that block crosswalks and fire hydrants. 

He said illegal parking has increased due to an influx of rideshare and food-delivery drivers.

“This poses a huge safety risk for cyclists, pedestrians, and other drivers. Further, this illegal parking can make it impossible for buses and fire apparatus to navigate turns, blocking intersections, causing congestion, and posing even further safety risks,” Katz told The Times in an email.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting and in his email to The Times, Katz offered some details on how SafetyStick would work.

According to Katz, solar-powered devices detect parking violations using radar and cameras and then send time-stamped pictures of violators’ license plates to the city’s parking enforcement officers for review.

He explained that although the cameras can detect parking violations, he hopes the devices will change behavior and deter drivers from committing violations in the first place.