India may have a unique new government initiative to curb traffic violations! The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari, has announced that the government may soon start rewarding citizens who report parking violations by sharing pictures of wrongly parked vehicles.
His ministry is mulling over introducing a law where a parking violator can be fined up to Rs. 1000, out of which Rs. 500 will go to the citizen who reported the parking violation by sharing a picture as proof. The Minister expressed his thoughts during the Decarbonization Summit in Delhi on 16 June 2022.
Why is the Minister Contemplating This Rule?
In the minister’s opinion, parking violations are aggravated by a large number of privately-owned vehicles on Indian roads today. He chimes that often, there are cars present for every individual member of a family, especially in metropolises, where quality public transportation is already accessible.
The failure to depopulate India’s metros is another reason behind traffic congestion and parking violations. This is perhaps why the residents of metros like Delhi treat roads as parking spaces.
But vehicle owners are not the only culprits behind parking violations. Commercial developers and city planners don’t pay enough attention to setting up the correct number of parking spaces. For example, relevant authorities are not considering the relative and expected spike in automotive demand and subsequent parking requirements.
Where people only bought 1 lakh cars in May of last year, they purchased a whopping 2.5 lakh units this year. With so many vehicles on the road, inadequate parking spaces, and no information on both on and off-street parking availability, citizens are bound to violate parking rules.
Also Read: India’s Parking Crisis: Resolving Free Parking
Possible Solutions to Curb Parking Violations
While offering rewards for sharing pictures of the crime may be a short-term remedy to the rising cases of parking violations, it’s not the only solution. Authorities must continue creating awareness around sustainability and educate citizens on reducing their carbon footprint.
Law enforcement agencies and private parking authorities must integrate intelligent parking technologies to optimize the use of already available parking spaces. Several parking lots in busy metro neighborhoods lie idle simply because drivers don’t know about them.
For instance, we can find parking lots lying unused in a space-starved metro like Delhi. But, such is the case in South Delhi, where multilevel underground parking facilities barely attract car owners.
If motorists could get alerts on their smartphones about vacant on and off-street parking bays in real-time, it will reduce traffic congestion and parking violations and generate higher revenue for lot owners. Smart parking systems can help stakeholders establish mobility hubs where parkers can reserve preferred parking slots in advance and pay for them online.
In the End
Circling back to the reward scheme in the works by Nitin Gadkari, citizens being watchful of one another when it comes to wrongful parking can help curtail violations. Reporting parking violations this way will also positively impact a city’s ecology and environment in the long term.
What do you think?
