Licence plate recognition for enforcement of loading and unloading times

Municipality of Groningen

To keep Groningen's city centre attractive and easily accessible, traffic by trucks and vans is being restricted. The municipality uses cameras that can read license plates to enforce this policy.

Last change on 9th of April 2024, at 8:37 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: Field not filled in.
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Traffic

Begin date

12-2023

Contact information

[e-mail]

Link to publication website

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/54245b73619f46ef8962f2c3f7782925/page/Sensorenregister/?views=Verkeer

Link to source registration

https://data.groningen.nl/dataset/algoritmeregister-gemeente-groningen

Responsible use

Goal and impact

Groningen City Council wants to keep Groningen's inner city attractive and easily accessible. That is why traffic by trucks and delivery vans is being restricted. These will only be allowed in the city centre within certain times (window times). A zero-emission zone will also be introduced from 2025. This means that a delivery van or lorry can only enter this zone if it does not emit any harmful substances, such as a car running on electricity or hydrogen. Control of this is done by the municipality with cameras that can read license plates. The purpose of the algorithm is to enable efficient enforcement.

The algorithm only impacts vehicles that should not be in the areas. Only the offending vehicle is captured. Non-violators are disregarded (and thus not put on image).

Considerations

The advantage of the algorithm is that it is more efficient, faster and cheaper. Instead of employees having to continuously read images, now only a picture is taken of a vehicle that should not be in the area. Merely placing traffic signs is not enough. Physical closure with traffic poles (pollers)also has disadvantages, such as the high purchase and operating costs and the damage that occurs. Moreover, the area must always remain accessible to emergency services. Camera surveillance is more efficient and effective than the alternatives.

Human intervention

The system provides a list of registered vehicles without an exemption. A special investigating officer (BOA) then checks and assesses this list within 112 hours. Only after being checked by a BOA, if an offence is detected, it forwards it to the Central Judicial Collection Agency.

Risk management

The license plate registration system complies with all applicable privacy laws and regulations.

There is no live video footage. It involves only digital images (photographs) with license plate information. Only offenders are temporarily listed (for a maximum of 112 hours). Information on non-offenders is not stored.

The boundaries of the window-free zone are set so that drivers cannot drive into a trap.

As an investigative body, the municipality must keep the digital recordings for five years. The municipality must also ensure that the offender can request the violation photo from the municipality.

Legal basis

The legal basis for the deployment of this algorithm is the 1994 Road Traffic Act. The Road Traffic Act 1994 (WVW) forms the basis for the regulation of road traffic in the Netherlands. For the implementation of camera enforcement, the municipal executive presented a council proposal (63778-2021) dated 10 February 2021 to the city council. This proposal was adopted by the council on 30 March 2021. In this decision, the council took note of the public participation report on the vision Room for Zero Emission Urban Logistics, adopted this vision, made budget available for the proposed measures and amended the municipal budget.

Links to legal bases

• Wegenverkeerswet 1994: https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006622
• Raadsvoorstel (63778-2021): https://gemeenteraad.groningen.nl/Vergaderingen/gemeenteraad/2021/30-maart/21:00/Visie-Stadslogistiek-2.pdf

Operations

Data

License plates vehicles not allowed to be in the allotted area, database with exemption holders and window times. Window times are the times when special vehicles are / are not allowed to enter the city centre

Links to data sources

Uitleg over de gegevens op de website van de leverancier: https://www.brickyard.eu/camerahandhaving/

Technical design

The camera enforcement system scans all license plates of passing vehicles only outside permitted times. The camera then uses an algorithm for object recognition. The algorithm is used to recognise and classify different types of vehicles in traffic (type of vehicle and other objects). The registration number

is compared with a database of registered license plates of exemption holders. The vehicles without an exemption are put on a list, which reaches a special investigating officer (BOA).

In addition, another algorithm ensures that the photo taken of the offence is blurred (blurred), except for the vehicle with license plate.

External provider

Brickyard B.V.