CCTV used to fine double-parking

NICE is to start using its street surveillance cameras to fine motorists who double-park in the streets and block traffic.

The city, which will have 649 street cameras in place by the end of the year, launched the system this week with a series of warning letters to double-parked drivers.

From November 1 drivers will receive an automatic €35 fine notice in the post, to be paid in 45 days.

Nice follows near neighbours Cagnes-sur-Mer and Draguignan with the vidéo-verbalisation. Cagnes-sur-Mer mayor Louis Nègre has no regrets and told France24 that after 2,000 fines had been issue they had “unchoked the town centre”

Three streets in Nice have been chosen for the first camera operation, all notorious for slow-moving traffic caused by double-parked cars, vans and lorries.

The cameras take two pictures of the vehicle numberplate, at the beginning and end of the double-parked period, and a fixed-penalty fine notice is sent to whoever holds the carte grise for the vehicle.

Mayor Christian Estrosi, the industry minister, says the city is using a 1995 law which expressly allowed street cameras to be used to stop traffic offences. He has also said the city could look at using the cameras for other offences.

This year alone Nice municipal police have issued 68,000 fine notices procès-verbaux for traffic offences such as double-parking, parking on pedestrian crossings etc.

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