Ticket cancelling manual released

Once-secret guidelines explain possible escapes from that parking fine
By Robyn Doolittle - Urban Affairs Reporter
If you are old, have a medical condition and are religious you have a good chance of beating a parking ticket in Toronto.
The excuses that work with bureaucrats were made public Tuesday night when city council voted to release the holy grail of how-tos: the Parking Ticket Cancellation Guidelines.
According to the previously confidential report, city staff can cancel tickets for drivers on compassionate grounds, especially if they live more than 100 kilometres from Toronto.
Other potentially acceptable excuses are that the driver was attending worship, confused over which side of the street to park, or got multiple tickets for the same offence in a 3-hour window.
The 18-page report details exemptions for fast-food delivery, nursing agencies, tour buses, taxicabs, disabled drivers and delivery vehicles, among others.
Like police, fire and ambulance services, city councillors on “city business” can have tickets cancelled for virtually any infraction.
So why did city council make public some of its deepest secrets?
“Myself and Councillor Moscoe have been trying to get it released for a long time, and staff have constantly been saying ‘It’s confidential, it’s confidential, it’s confidential,” said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong.
Read full story here.

Motorola brings hands-free driving campaign to cities

by Caroline McCarthy

NEW YORK--Motorola has gone into high gear for National Safe Driving Month, and if you live in one of four U.S. cities you might even be seeing them on the roads.
Earlier this week, Motorola launched a free mobile app to decipher the country's various laws about cell phone calling and texting while behind the wheel. This weekend it's kicking off its "Get Smarter" campaign on the streets in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco where locals will be offered lifts in super-compact Smart ForTwo cars where they can get a product demo of Motorola hands-free gadgets like the H17txt, a headset that reads your text messages out to you in real time and lets you set an auto-response to let your contacts know that you're driving. (Interested customers can follow @motomobile on Twitter to find out where they might be able to hitch a ride.)
On Thursday evening, a company rep picked me up in one of the logo-wrapped Smart cars and gave me a lift downtown, encouraging me to check out the H17txt in the process. We couldn't use it on my iPhone, unfortunately, because the "Motospeak" technology that powers it is only compatible with Android and BlackBerry devices. But on the Android phone that Motorola had brought for demonstrations, the headset clearly read out my test text message of "all your base are belong to us."
The funny irony is that by choosing to launch this campaign in cities like New York, Motorola may actually not be reaching its target market. The situation isn't this extreme in Chicago, Minneapolis, or San Francisco, but in many parts of the New York metro area people just don't drive very much. Paying for a parking space by the month is exorbitant, traffic is reliably horrible, and the subway system is good enough so that it's often faster to take the train than to catch one of the city's (many) taxicabs. Here, typically, when you hear about regulating the use of electronics behind the wheel, it's referring to taxi drivers, who have been banned from using cell phones, and even hands-free headsets, on the job since January.
But distracted driving remains a problem in New York. Nick, the Motorola rep driving me from midtown to Tribeca in a Smart ForTwo, said that in a single day behind the wheel he'd "already seen one accident."

CCTV car will clamp down on school parking

By Tom Patterson
SCHOOL run problem parkers in South Tyneside will be put in the picture later this month – and face hefty fines.
A CCTV camera car is being wheeled out to catch parents who create a danger outside the borough's schools.
The Smart Car, fitted with CCTV cameras, is to undergo a two-week test programme at problem areas over the next few weeks and be fully introduced in June to enforce keep-clear zones outside schools and, later, bus lane restrictions.
The vehicle is being provided by APCOA (UK) Ltd as part of the company's contract to enforce parking regulations in South Tyneside.
Coun Jim Perry, South Tyneside Council's lead member for environment and transport, said: "Parking outside schools in the morning and at home time is a major problem.
"It creates a dangerous situation for children. Our road safety team has been working with headteachers to identify schools where there are serious parking concerns.
"These will be the first to benefit from this enforcement.
"The primary aim of the Smart Car is to improve road safety around our schools.
Read full story here.

Emergency services brace for NYE influx

Emergency services will be out in force in Sydney's metropolitan area on New Year's Eve, with an estimated 1.5 million people expected to attend celebrations in the harbour city.
The Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, says 2,500 police will be on duty in Sydney on New Year's Eve with the majority patrolling the CBD.
He says their main job on the night will be to see that people get home safely, and he has warned drunks that bad behaviour will not be tolerated.
Commissioner Scipione says police from a number of divisions will be out, including the public order riot squad.
"We'll be having about 130 commuter crime officers on the train system alone, backed up by about 350-odd transit officers, so many people will go out and enjoy themselves, unfortunately some will go out and they will be arrested and they will be dealt with according to the law," he said.
Read full story and watch video here.

Belle Isle unveils its new police force and car

Belle Isle Police Department Chief John Tegg shows the newest
patrol car, a Smart Car, on Wednesday, April 15, 2009. Belle Isle's new Police
Department may be small, but its patrol car is even smaller. It's a 2-seat Smart
Car, and it's designated number is .5. "It's .5 because is not quite a
full-sized car," Tegg said. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda, Orlando Sentinel / April
15, 2009)

BELLE ISLE, FLORIDA - Police Chief John Tegg bends his 6-foot, 280-pound frame into the smallest official police car most folks have ever seen, pulling his knees up around the steering wheel until he can push back the seat. He insists that he's perfectly comfortable.
Along with formally introducing Belle Isle to its new police force this afternoon, Tegg is showing off the pride of the department -- what he says is the first Smart Car police vehicle.The fuel-sipping, diminutive two-seater looks more like a golf cart with lights and sirens than the sentry of the road.
"One fella told me he's not sure he'd pull over for this little thing," Tegg said. "I said you'd better if you know what's good for you."

Read full story here.

Police test drive Smart cars

Parking officers using environmentally and economically sound Smart cars in pilot project
Jun 20, 2007 04:30 AM Robyn Doolittle Staff Reporter

At 6-foot-4, things get a bit squishy for parking officer Otimoi Oyemu in his division's new Smart car.
His knees protrude eight centimetres above the bottom of the steering wheel. He can easily place one hand on the windshield and the other on the back window. And to reach the police radio, Oyemu has to twist his chest into the passenger seat to get around his own leg.
Despite the tight squeeze, Oyemu says he enjoys zipping around town in the Smart cars – even if they max out at about 100 km/h.
"It's a great little city car. We don't need to go too fast," he said yesterday on patrol. "And it's very easy to park. It can fit in all kinds of tight spots."
For the past month, parking enforcement officers have been cruising around in two Smart cars emblazoned with police logos and strips. The force is also testing out a pair of Civic hybrids. This environmentally – and economically – smart pilot program will run until next February. If suitable, Toronto police may adopt the pint-sized cars on a larger scale.

Read full story here.