Dublin City Council is planning a new enforcement blitz against drivers who park in cycle lanes and commit other parking breaches - by issuing them with on the spot fines.
The council wants to trial the new approach for 12 months
and assess its effectiveness. The plan would prove a lot more flexible than
clamping and may be a more significant enforcement tool.
It would allow more drivers to be targeted, especially those who park in cycle lanes and bus lanes for short periods while the drivers run into shops or make deliveries, which is a major and constant hazard for cyclists in Dublin.
The Dublin Cycling Campaign has welcomed the idea, saying
it would be helpful in tackling drivers who believed it was acceptable to park
on cycle lanes for very short periods.
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“It gets a big thumbs up from us,” said Kieran Ryan of
the Dublin Cycling Campaign. “We have issues with vehicles being parked in
cycle lanes.
“And it’s not just cycle lanes; it’s on footpaths and in
bus lanes as well. So anything that gives the authorities another weapon in
their arsenal to prevent this from happening is certainly welcomed by us.”
Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn (Ind) was not in favour of the plan, saying the move was a “cash grab” by the council and the company that carries out clamping.
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He said because there were so few people now in Dublin city, due to the pandemic, parking fine revenue was down and he believed the new proposal aimed to gather in more money.
He said it was “unfair” on drivers who wanted to do
“quick shops”, adding drivers spent “a huge amount of money on taxation and pay
for these roads”. He also complained there were no fines for cyclists riding on
footpaths.
At present vehicles parked in cycle lanes, bus lanes or on clearways can be clamped in situ or relocated a short distance away and clamped. Some vehicles can also be moved from the spot where they are parked and taken to the car pound in Harolds’s Cross in south Dublin.
However, only a very small number of vehicles can be taken
to a pound because trucks, and the crews that man them, are required and the
job is costly, labour intensive and time consuming. The same applies to
vehicles that are relocated a short distance before being clamped, with trucks for
towing of lifting vehicles required every time.
If vehicles parked in cycle lanes, bus lanes or clearways are clamped, that ensures the vehicle must remain in its location until the owner returns, waits for their vehicle to be unclamped and pays a fee. Clamping effectively means the vehicle is stuck in the location where it is causing an obstruction or danger, and often stuck for hours.
But the new on the spot fines system would bypass all of
those pitfalls and could facilitate a crackdown on all forms of illegal parking
in Dublin.
The council is hoping to introduce the 12-month pilot project by the end of June. As well as tackling drivers who park on cycle lanes, bus lanes, clearways and who block driveways, the new on the spot fines would be applied to other illegal parking situations.
For example, fines would be issued for parking on pavements, for illegally parking buses and coaches and for non-commercial vehicles parking on loading bays.
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