Motorists urged to look for yellow ‘No-Parking’ lines Monday, July 15 2013 The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure last Tuesday began painting yellow lines on streets at various busy spots in Port-of-Spain to alert the public about no parking areas. This action follows a petition and complaints from the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) about the indiscriminate wrecking of vehicles in the capital which has negatively impacted on businesses. In an interview last Friday DOMA President Gregory Aboud said, the organisation petitioned former Works Minister Emmanuel George “for the accurate demarcation of the allowable parking distance from corners in and around Port-of-Spain and in the general environs of St Clair, Woodbrook and St James.” Aboud said members of the business community, persons working in Port-of-Spain and members of the public patronising the city and restaurants and bars in Newtown, St Clair and Woodbrook were “deceived” by the absence of lines indicating parking distances from corners and “clearly enunciated signs indicating what parking rules existed on the streets of Port-of-Spain and environs.” Cars have been wrecked from areas without white lines or signage indicating where to park. Aboud said, “based on the abuse which we have observed we came to the clear conclusion that the ambiguity which existed about where to park and where not to park was being exploited by the wreckers to the disadvantage of unsuspecting motorists.” Instead of the authorities putting signs and markings to guide the public, Aboud said a state of confusion was left unattended resulting in hundreds of cars being towed despite repeated and continuous flow of complaints from the public. The wrecking has damaged the economic viability of Port-of-Spain and worsened the already low levels of trust the public have in the authorities. Aboud said the “pretence of enforcement of parking laws has been used to raise millions of dollars in monthly revenue at the expense of jobs and businesses.” Transportation Planner with the Works Ministry Adande Piggott said the traffic management branch was putting yellow lines on streets. He said this was in the law, but signs instead of road markings were often used to indicate No Parking areas. “Yellow lines means no parking. We don’t have it around the country a lot,” Piggott said in an interview last Friday. The lines are being marked from corners to alert motorists of the nine metres where parking is prohibited. Piggott said the ministry “found inconsistences, some corners had nine metres others had less.” According to the Highway Code it is against the law to park within nine metres of a corner. Personnel from Traffic Management were advised on how to properly measure nine metres from corners. Lines were being painted on streets from Charlotte Street to Richmond, Park Street to Independence Square north. Newsday spoke to a few people in Port-of-Spain last Friday about the introduction of the yellow lines. “There is not enough parking facilities for customers when shopping neither are there enough signs and the introduction of the new yellow lines are somewhat confusing since it was not in regulations,” said taxi driver, Jason Andrews. A female motorist said she was unaware of what the lines meant while a male motorist said he did not fully understand what they were for but since they were nine metres off the curb he assumed that it had to do with parking laws. A shopper suggested that there should be a public awareness campaign regarding the lines. A business owner from the “drag mall” said that most shoppers took a chance and parked on the roads because car parks were expensive with some charging $10 an hour.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 11:08:03 +0000
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