'To Make Our Streets Safer': New App Compiling Data On Parking Violators Across Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH, PA (KDKA) - A new app is designed to compile data on all the parking violators across Pittsburgh.
Whether it's parking in a bus lane, a bike lane or on a sidewalk, you can find parking violations almost anywhere.
"A major issue we run into is that there are a lot of cars that end up parking in the bike lanes," said Eric Boerer with BikePGH.
The creators of a new app called 'OurStreets' are hoping to fix that problem.
"Is it it purely a lack of regard or is it because there are infrastructure changes that need to be made to make it easier when they are making deliveries?" said app creator Mark Sussman.
The app launched this weekend, and the concept is simple.
When you see a violation, whether it's in a bike lane or on a sidewalk, you can take a picture and upload the time and place of the violation.
The car's license plate, the location of the violation and the time it happened are recorded in a central database to pinpoint problems.
"Using crowd-collected data, we will be able to identify those key spots where the city could either improve the area with better protection or increasing enforcement in those areas," Boerer said.
The app will give the submitter access to the vehicle's history of citations.
The creators told KDKA what comes up is already public record and adds to the overall picture of problems.
"It's not about any one particular driver. No one is going to give you a ticket because you were submitted through the app. It's really about using the data and algorithm to make our streets safer," Sussman said.
BikePGH is working on a partnership with the app's creators to get access to the data in Pittsburgh.
