
The accessibility of open data has made its use possible in so many fields, from policing, to commuting patterns, to jazz music. It’s making our world more understandable and more connected. Its latest use comes from Ben Wellington from the blog I Quant NY. Using NYC’s Open Data Portal, Ben was able to find how many drivers in NYC were being ticketed for parking in legal spaces.
A little-known 2008 law allowed drivers to park in front of sidewalk pedestrian ramps that weren’t connected to a crosswalk. Unfortunately, Ben and many like him found tickets on their cars despite parking in perfectly legal spots.
I’ve got a pedestrian ramp leading to nowhere particular in the middle of my block in Brooklyn, and on occasion I have parked there. Despite the fact that it is legal, I’ve been ticketed for parking there. Though I get the tickets dismissed, it’s a waste of everybody’s time. And that got me wondering- How common is it for the police to give tickets to cars legally parked in front of pedestrian ramps? It couldn’t be just me…
Using the city’s open data, Ben was able to find out it wasn’t just him; he found 1.7 million dollars in fines were levied against cars that were legally parked. So what does that mean for the good people parking on the streets of New York? Well, because of Ben’s work it actually means that something might change. In a response from the NYPD it was noted:
[T]he department sent a training message to all officers clarifying the rule change and has communicated to commanders of precincts with the highest number of summonses, informing them of the issues within their command.
Thanks to this analysis and the availability of this open data, the department is also taking steps to digitally monitor these types of summonses to ensure that they are being issued correctly.
Here it is, open data and transparency in action. Very exciting.
Check out the data and Ben’s mapping project on the ticketing hotspots at I Quant NY.