CAM-142

A car stopped on the crossing

The street outside the school gate at drop-off time. A car is stopped on the pedestrian crossing, right in front of the gate, with the no-stopping sign two metres away. To the right you can see the strip of crossing still clear, and on the far pavement two children wait at the mouth of the crossing with nowhere to cross straight ahead. More children are walking along the pavement towards the gate.

CAM-142 · GATE STREET · VEHICLE STOPPED ON CROSSING

What IRIS understands

What it recognises in this scene

Car on the crossing
Pedestrian crossing
Children waiting
Group at the gate
Children on the pavement

What this camera measures

An alert says something is happening. The reading says how much.

3 minStopped for
9 minLongest today
11Times today
17Children around
2Waiting to cross
08:47Time of the alert

The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client's measurement.

The rule

You decide once. IRIS applies it always.

a vehicle stays stopped on the crossing by the gate for longer than the seconds the school has set

Then

tell the caretaker, who is the one who can step out and ask them to move
log the minute and the exact spot, to build up the week's tally
keep the clip, without the number plate, for the meeting with the council

The instruction that set it up«Tell me if a car is stopped on the crossing by the gate, and how long it has been there.»

What changes

What changes for the school team

A car stopped on the crossing is not a fines problem: it means a seven-year-old has to walk around it into the road, between moving cars, at the busiest minute of the day. And it lasts two minutes, so by the time someone comes out to say something the car has gone. That is why it never gets fixed: there is no way to prove it happens every single day. IRIS logs it every time, with the hour and the spot. At the end of the month the school does not bring a complaint to the meeting with the council: it brings the count of how many times it happened and at what time, and that is what gets a bollard painted or somebody posted on that corner at a quarter to nine.

What people usually ask

Does this let us report the cars?

No, this does not let you report the cars, because plate reading is not switched on for that camera. It does not read the number, does not store it and does not compare it against any database. What it sees is that a vehicle is stopped on the crossing and how long it has been there. Issuing a fine requires identifying the vehicle, and an officer does that with their own means. What this gives you is the other thing: the proof that it happens every day at the same hour.

What if the car only stops for ten seconds to drop a child off?

If the car only stops for ten seconds, nothing fires: you set the seconds. The rule is not «a car has stopped», it is «a car has been stopped on the crossing for longer than the seconds we decided». Outside a school at a quarter to nine everybody stops for a moment, and alerting on that would mean fifty alerts in ten minutes and the system switched off within a week. You start with a generous margin, watch a week's worth and tune it.

Does IRIS know who is driving that car?

No, IRIS does not know who is driving that car or who is inside. It does not recognise faces, does not compare them against any database, does not store who anybody is and does not read the plate. What it sees is «a vehicle», where it is and since when. And it knows nothing about the children around it either: it counts them to know how many had to walk around the car, and that is where it ends.

Other cameras

The real interface, step by step

You set the rule once. IRIS applies it every time.

You will see a summary of the interface, played step by step and hands-free. Each round starts with another case. The complete tool does not fit in a demo.