Parking vehicles incorrectly on streets is a growing phenomenon nowadays, something that has prompted traffic police to increase awareness about this problem through the media. A number of educational institutions and community organizations are also taking part in the campaign. Inappropriate parking contributes to an increase in the number of road accidents and causes immense inconvenience to the general public. There are also calls for stringent action against drivers who park incorrectly, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported. Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, a Saudi citizen, said it is very difficult to find appropriate parking in public places due to traffic congestion in the Kingdom's major cities. “There needs to be a comprehensive review of the matter because the situation is getting worse. This is especially true because of the huge increase in the number of vehicles and the growing trend of drivers to ignore traffic rules and regulations,” he said. “These people are accustomed to parking their vehicles in ‘no parking' areas, especially in front of government offices and business premises. These wrongly-parked vehicles create problems for local residents. When a person parks in the middle of a street in front of a shop, other drivers are also forced to stop,” he said. Al-Muqrin also drew attention to another common situation: “When traffic policemen see such violations, they simply use their loudspeakers to ask the violators to move on. But some people pay no heed to this as they know that they will not be fined.” He added that the main cause of the problem is the insufficient number of parking places in areas where there is a heavy density of residents. “The authorities should conduct traffic campaigns aimed at increasing awareness among all sections of society and they should increase the number of fines given to violators,” he said. Turki Al-Otaibi, another citizen, said that drivers must understand that traffic violations cause harm to others. “There are different types of bad parking: These include parking vehicles horizontally on a road. There are also some who park vehicles on an elevated pedestrian path or a sidewalk while others park parallel to other already parked cars. There are also some people who park their cars and close off entrances to homes while others use disabled parking facilities,” he said. Al-Otaibi said some drivers park without the least consideration for other road users, especially near mosques during Friday prayers. “The way to address this problem is by enforcing the law on all people and taking punitive measures against violators,” he said, adding that this should be enforced as it is in other GCC states. “We must take advantage of the experience of others before implementing the system. We don't need to transform paid parking areas into profit-making businesses - the real motivation should be solving traffic congestion,” he said, adding that paid parking hours could be from 8 A.M. until 10 P.M. and that parking after this could be free until 8 in the morning. Commenting on the issue, Col. Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Dabihi, a section manager from the Traffic Police in Riyadh, said that inappropriate parking is uncivilized behavior. “Any vehicles found parked in this way will be towed and impounded if the driver is unavailable. The driver will then have to pay a fine to have his vehicle released,” he said. According to Col. Al-Dabihi, the fine for parking incorrectly ranges between SR100 and SR150. He added that the primary aim is to ensure road safety and facilitate smooth traffic movement. Responding to queries about penalizing repeat violators, he said that there is no doubling of fines and that the violator is required to pay the same amount. Abdul Rahman Al-Shaalan, director of the Transport Department at Arriyadh Development Authority, stressed the need for parking spaces in major areas within Riyadh and that these spaces should be in line with the municipality's regulations. “Penal action against violators of traffic regulations should only be taken after this,” he said, adding that the Riyadh Governorate has plans to introduce paid parking areas in the near future. “This scheme was successful in Dammam and Al-Khobar. However, even though such a scheme was introduced in Riyadh, it was a failure,” he said. Al-Shaalan said parking should be considered prior to businesses and companies being given permission to open. “It is essential that the parking area is spacious and in accordance with the volume of expected customers. “We can see that there are several big firms which have no parking and that customers resort to parking their vehicles on the street in front of the firm,” he said.
