KOCHI: City Police has completely gone on the back foot when it comes to towing vehicles which are found to be violating no parking rules in the city. It’s a fact that drastic rise in number of vehicles has resulted in parking chaos inside the city which according to a 2014-15 data has over 11 lakh vehicles that include nearly six lakh two-wheelers and over three lakh cars.
Though the city police issues parking violation tickets to over 200 vehicles a day, they have completely discarded the practice of towing away vehicles parked in no parking zones in the city. Earlier, tickets were issued to vehicles parked in no-parking zones and the police resort to towing away of vehicles only when they have parked either obstructing movement of other vehicles or in a dangerous manner that can cause accidents.
The city police currently has three tow vehicles which include a heavy-duty vehicle to tow large size vans and sports utility vehicles. Senior police officers admitted the traffic police were not using the towing vehicles these days as it was a time-consuming process and many a time, it causes severe damage to the towed vehicle. While Traffic West Police station has two tow vehicles, the East police station has one. “We used to receive complaint that vehicles had suffered damages after it was towed away. Above all, at least four policemen are required to be assigned with a tow vehicle for towing away a vehicle,” said a senior city police officer.
Traffic East Assistant Commissioner Francis Shelby said they are not much into using tow vehicles these days except for situations wherein a parked vehicle is obstructing the smooth flow of other vehicles or the vehicle is haphazardly parked. “If we start towing away vehicles parked in no parking zones, then we will have only time for that. We use the tow vehicle only if a vehicle is found dangerously parked at busy thoroughfares,” he said.
However, with police going soft on using tow vehicles to remove illegally parked cars, people have started to park their vehicles violating the no parking rules.
Selecting no-parking zones
Police officers said no parking boards are put up on a road stretch after conducting a detailed analysis of the flow of vehicular traffic through the stretch. Generally, police will analyse whether the stretch had become an illegal parking spot for vehicles hindering the free flow of vehicles. Main roads in the city which have been widened following Metro Rail project are still choked with vehicles during office hours because of illegal parking of vehicles. “We have put up no parking boards. But people park their cars right under the no parking board,” said an officer.