App helps drivers steer clear of 'summons auntie'

18 Aug 2011: The Straits Times (Singapore)
App helps drivers steer clear of 'summons auntie'
...The app is the work of Replaid, a two-month-old local start-up which received a $50,000 grant from Spring Singapore.
Mr Ron Wee, its sales and marketing manager, said the app is popular for being user-friendly and funny. For instance...

IN COFFEE shops, one can count on seeing motorists make a mad dash to their cars nearby when the coffee-shop keeper yells 'Auntie lai liao!'.

The call in Hokkien signals the arrival of the parking warden - usually a white-uniformed middle- aged woman, hence the term 'auntie' - so being fleet-footed may mean escaping a parking fine.
Technology has taken a leaf from this and given iPhone users an electronic 'early warning system' in the form of a free iPhone app called Summon Auntie. It has enjoyed 6,800 downloads since its launch on Aug 9, sending it to the top of the Singapore app chart in the last two days.
The app counts on motorists banding together to watch one another's back. Upon sighting a summons auntie in the carpark, an iPhone user can use the app to send out warnings to all iPhone users of the app within a 200m radius, so they can rush back to their cars to put up a missing parking coupon or to add fresh ones.
The warning goes out to anyone who had parked in the area earlier and had launched the app by tapping on one of three buttons to log his location.
A typical alert reads: 'Summon Auntie has been spotted 20.3m away from your car.'
The app is the work of Replaid, a two-month-old local start-up which received a $50,000 grant from Spring Singapore. Mr Ron Wee, its sales and marketing manager, said the app is popular for being user-friendly and funny. For instance, the app's launch screen flashes the Singlish message 'Summon Auntie, Y U No Pang Chance', meaning 'Why don't you give me a chance?'
Another iPhone app, Park Alert, works on the same principle, but is less user-friendly in that users have to drag a pin on a map to log their location.
To netizens wondering whether it is illegal to help drivers, including parking offenders, to avoid fines, the answer appears to be no.
Mr Gilbert Leong, a partner in the law firm Rodyk & Davidson, said drivers sending out alerts do not know whether other drivers have committed a parking offence, so he and the app cannot be said to have abetted in the breaking of a law.
Replaid's Mr Wee said: 'On our website, we encourage motorists to use parking coupons.'
He added that it 'does not make sense' to be fined if a meeting runs over time by just 10 minutes.
A Land Transport Authority spokesman said the enforcement of parking offences is meant to safeguard road space for safe and smooth traffic flow.
'We are not in the position to comment on applications that alert the public to the presence of parking enforcement officers,' she said.
Irene Tham
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_703354.html

http://www.spring.gov.sg/NewsEvents/ITN/Pages/App-helps-drivers-steer-clear-of-summons-auntie-20110818.aspx
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Link:
A1 motoring:
18Aug2011: 'Summon Auntie' phone app alerts drivers to parking attendants
A1forum:
23Aug2011: Spring Singapore invest $50,000 (tax-payers$) to help drivers dodge parking summons '
08Sept2011: 'Summon Auntie' phone app alerts drivers to parking attendants