Tránsito To Get Tough On Illegally Parked
Cars in Downtown San José
Traffic in and around downtown San José has
gotten worse since last Monday when the
vehicular restrictions were struck down by a
court decision, and mostly due to illegally
parked vehicles, no respect for traffic
signals, blocking of intersections and just
plain driver bad habits.
And for that the Policía de Tránsito has
vowed to get tough come Monday when
officials will be out with the ticket books
and PDA's to fine drivers for all kinds of
infractions and tow illegally parked
vehicles.
The director of the Policía de Tránsito,
German Marín, assures that his officials
will have a zero tolerance policy, not only
to keep traffic moving and relieve
congestion, but also to eradicate the bad
habits of Costa Rican drivers that has
formed over the years.
The bad driving habits are party due to lack
of tough traffic controls, low fines and a
general lack of consideration for other
drivers and pedestrians. And not to say the
least the lack of tow vehicles and manpower
by the Policía de Tránsito.
Traffic officials on foot along Avenida
Central and the adjacent Avenidas have only
been able to ask drivers to move and issue
only fines, powerless to remove the vehicles
for lack of equipment.
In the years past, Tránsito tow trucks acted
without pity, towing anything and
everything.However, now even though the
ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT)
continues to purchase new units, they are
not enough and for the most end up kept
parked in MOPT lots for lack of officials to
operate them.
Some of the worst downtown routes include
Avenida Segunda, Avenidas 1 and 9 on the
north side and Avenida 8 and 10 on the
south, Avenidas that carry the bulk of the
east-west traffic through downtown San José.
In addition to illegally parked vehicles are
delivery vehicles, large and small,
insisting on making deliveries during peak
hours.
It can take 15 to 20 minutes to move six
blocks along Avenida 1 from the Post Office
to the Coca Cola during any weekday
afternoon, as delivery trucks park on both
sides of the Avenida, the taxis and those
drivers who will only be a minute to run
into a store to make a purchase. At the
Mercado Central intersection buses add to
the congestion.
Director Marín admits that the number and
intensity of traffic operations has slowed
down in the downtown core, partly due to the
lack of personnel, which means having to
shifting officers to priority areas and
illegally parked vehicles has not been a
priority.
However, the director assures that the
sweeps will be back and although not with
the same intensity, the officials are
expected to be tough.
Marín said that currently on average 250
parking tickets are issued during weekdays.
That number does not include the parking
tickets issued by municipal officials for
expired parking meters.
Sadly, although the Policía de Tránsito has
all the good intentions, there currently are
only 35 tow trucks for the entire country. |
