Santa Monica to ticket bike-lane parkers with automated cameras Play

Parking in a bicycle lane in Santa Monica is going to become very expensive.

The city is turning on automatic cameras on its parking enforcement vehicles. These cameras will spot illegally parked or idling vehicles in bike lanes, record the signs and the infraction, and trigger a computer that will generate a report. A city parking official will review the automated evidence and send out a parking ticket.

How much? Just a warning for now. But after July 1, $93 per violation.

Santa Monica is the first city in California to use technology like this to cite drivers who block cyclists.

How big is the problem of blocked bike lanes in Santa Monica? A test of the system put the automatic cameras onto just two vehicles. They flagged nearly 1,700 violations in six weeks.

Officials say parked cars and idling delivery trucks in bike lanes are an urgent safety problem.

Santa Monica has already installed these cameras on its fleet of Big Blue Buses to ticket vehicles parked in bus lanes. Bus lane parking violations reportedly dropped 67% as a result, according to the city.

This story is based on reporting from the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper.