New measures to curb parking violations

Motorists who think they have got away scot-free with parking illegally at private housing estates could receive summons days later in their letter-boxes.

A closed-circuit television (CCTV) trial is under way in two areas - one of them being Marine Parade - to catch errant motorists.

In addition, Land Transport Authority (LTA) enforcement officers are using cameras to take photos in case the offenders try to drive off before receiving their summonses.

Sharing the LTA initiatives to ease the woes of residents in private housing estates, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew reiterated that enforcement is a tricky issue, and some motorists have cried foul over the new methods.

He said: "By the time they put two (summons tickets) ... all (the other vehicles would be) gone already. So they take photos and then, after that, summon (the offenders).

"But then you get people complaining: 'I wasn't there, I never received a ticket, I wasn't properly warned' ... (Some offenders) can get summonses on three or four consecutive days (and) they say: 'If you had put a ticket, then the next day I wouldn't have done it'."

On the CCTV trial, he noted that parking offences have gone down in the areas covered. "It's still early days yet, but the impact seems to be that people now realise that they're being watched on camera."

He said the LTA hands out about 300,000 tickets for parking offences annually. There are around 900,000 vehicles on the roads. 

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