SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday (Dec 27) announced that it will be implementing a Tailgating Detection System (TDS) in its car parks from next year.

The 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, HDB said in its press release.



Compared to the manual process which can take several hours, this process is much more effective and efficient, it added.

By using a network of sensors located at the exits of the Electronic Parking System (EPS) car parks, TDS measures the distance between vehicles as they approach the car park gantries.



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.

The TDS, which is portable, also has the ability to detect motorcycles which bypass the car park gantries without paying the parking charges, added HDB.









Currently, the identification of vehicles which tailgate or bypass gantries would 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.

HDB piloted the use of TDS 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.



The TDS will be implemented at EPS car parks where there are a higher number of tailgating incidents, it added.

HDB TAKES COURT ACTION AGAINST 7 MOTORISTS

In the press release, HDB said it has taken court action against seven "recalcitrant motorists" who had repeatedly evaded payment of parking charges by tailgating.



In one case, a woman was fined a total of S$5,600 after pleading guilty to seven counts of failing to pay parking charges totalling S$226.21, at a car park at Bedok North Avenue in August last year, HDB said.

She had also failed to furnish the details of the driver.

HDB also said that as at Nov 15, it had issued more than 6,000 parking offence notices to motorists who intentionally evaded parking payment.

The penalties are S$25 for motorcycles, S$50 for cars and S$80 for heavy vehicles.