| The Moscow City Duma advises the feds to toughen penalties for illegal parking The illusion of a “warming” in the attitude of the capital’s authorities towards ordinary motorists, which was created by Yuri Luzhkov before Constitution Day by suspending the operation of tow trucks and impound lots, was completely dispelled yesterday by Moscow City Duma deputies. Capital legislators seem to not only approve of the practice of using tow trucks to clean Moscow streets, but are even preparing to propose to the State Duma to increase fines for illegal parking by 30 times. Recommendations to federal colleagues will be discussed next week, but the document, the essence of which boils down to the requirement to significantly change the penalty “forks” in some articles of the Code of the Russian Federation on administrative offenses, has already been distributed to deputies for review.
Yuri Luzhkov's statement last week about banning tow trucks caused real amazement among many. “This practice is correct in purpose, but boorish in execution,” the mayor said before the holidays, commenting on the increased activity of traffic police inspectors and private tow trucks on the streets in the city center. While Moscow car owners who couldn’t believe their ears were wondering which of the mayor’s acquaintances who had fallen under the millstone of the towing campaign owed such attention to themselves, Mr. Luzhkov explained that he suddenly became imbued with sincere compassion for Moscow motorists. “The necessary business - car evacuation - was used by some structures for their own purposes in order to make money from those unfortunate people who parked their cars in the wrong place by mistake,” the mayor said. Moreover, it turns out that the “unfortunate” motorists “had to pay traffic cops, tow trucks and even in the parking lot,” the mayor made a discovery for himself. “I think this is dishonest,” said Yuri Luzhkov, who shortly before personally approved the tariffs for services imposed on Muscovites for the evacuation and storage of their movable property.
Yesterday, his first deputy, Yuri Roslyak, had to explain what the mayor of Moscow really wanted to say. According to the official, the mayor’s dissatisfaction is that “tow truck operators” prefer to simply collect “tribute” from the owners of illegally parked vehicles, and do not take the violators’ cars anywhere. “No one doubts the need for tow trucks, and they will again appear on city streets as soon as a system is created that eliminates bribery and extortion,” said Mr. Roslyak, answering questions from a Vremya Novostei correspondent.
However, city authorities, it seems, are not entirely sure that a system that eliminates bribery can be created in Moscow in principle, and therefore decided to hedge their bets by sharply increasing fines for illegal parking. Not daring to introduce such an unpopular bill on their own, city hall officials granted this honorable right to Moscow City Duma deputy Vera Stepanenko, hitherto known only for her work in public environmental organizations. Her proposed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses provide for an increase in fines for illegal parking from 0.5 to 15 minimum wages (i.e. from 50 to 1,500 rubles). Moreover, the deputy suggested that the traffic police officers themselves determine the amount of the fine for stopping on the roadway, resulting in the creation of an obstacle to the movement of other vehicles (Article 12.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation), indicating in the bill only the lower threshold: “from 25 minimum wages.” If the bill is adopted, the size of the financial penalty, it seems, will be limited only by the imagination of the inspector. Alexander GUDKOV |
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