KOCHI: Haphazardly parked vehicles or those obstructing the smooth flow of traffic within city limits will now be in a pickle! Taking a tough stand against illegal parking, the city police have decided to reintroduce wheel-locking system.
According to the police, the decision comes in the wake of a spike in the number of illegal parking along the city’s roads. “Though many campaigns were run and officers were deployed to check this, there wasn’t much difference,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police Aishwarya Dongre.
In a drive conducted by the department last month, 4,914 vehicles were booked for obstructing the free flow of traffic and nearly 500 were wheel-locked. “The traffic movement in the city has increased significantly after lockdown restrictions were eased.
After our awareness campaigns bore no fruit, we decided to lock the vehicles that are hindering traffic. On an average, we are locking 20 vehicles per day. These are the ones that cause maximum disruption. We are using wheel-jammers now at prime locations. The drive will be extended to other parts of the city soon,” said the DCP.
According to her, illegal parking can also lead to fatal accidents. “Several roads in the city have been marked as ‘no parking’ areas for a reason. But motorists pay no heed to them and park their vehicles showing utter disregard for others’ safety. “Our aim is to introduce ‘disciplined parking’ which will reduce the risk to both the parties,” added Dongre.
Earlier, the police had also redeployed recovery vehicles to tow away illegally parked vehicles. “The department has already approached the government seeking a heavy-duty tow truck. We should have implemented the practice a long time ago,” said a police officer.