New parking rules come into force

Ever since double yellow lines came into existence, there's been a problem with parking in the UK. Nobody seems capable of addressing the issue without an element of short-termism entering in. Yellow lines just push the illegal parkers elsewhere.

The difficulty the government has is that the vast majority of the public, both drivers and pedestrians, are convinced that local councils see parking fines as revenue raising bonuses. The councils deny it, but is it a case of "they would say that"? The drivers have a gripe because the feel they are being got at for driving (not going by public transport), so resent the parking conditions imposed on them.

These new rules are OK if fairly implemented. The trouble is it seems that many local council officials have indulged in what is tantamount to criminality. That is, encouraging the imposition of fines just for the sake of it. Turning a blind eye to overkeen patrol officers who see cars as a "commission" opportunity.

It all goes to the core of the problem. That unfair or unjust taxes cause public resentment. What we need is a proper long-term strategy. Good car-parking, linked to efficient public transport. I use both car and bus. However, it behoves the likes of Transport West Midlands, part of National Express, to rid their buses of pot-smoking feral youths who habitually fare-dodge and curse at driver and passengers alike. It also means red routes should mean good traffic flow and not a load of vans unloading. Speed limits should be enforced, not to be seen as another revenue raising technique, but as a common sense approach to traffic management.

All too often one can drive around a big city in the UK and see countless drivers racing between red lights, cutting up others at roundabouts, talking on mobile phones, tail-gating and making turns without indicating. My neighbour does a good business in knocking dents out of cars. Plenty of work, apparently!

Underinvestment is the problem. We need more park-and-rides, more integrated city transport systems. We need better planning considerations - some recent ones have allowed new exits from retail parks to be placed at junctions! But more importantly, we need our road raising taxes to be spent on roads and transport and not put into the Chancellor's Big Kitty so he can bale out botched banking policies. It's called hypothecation. In the USA, the gasoline tax goes towards road building and other transport related policies.

If we had our road taxes going into the work of the Highways Agency, with democratic accountability, we might see an improvement. If our local roads were properly policed and tended, we would not have so many problems.

The BBC report, though, shows the divide is still with us. David Sparks of the Local Government Association sees motorists his way! "Those selfish individuals who park in main roads out of cities will finally get their comeuppance" and Barrie Segal of AppealNow.com sees local government officials his way! "Just issuing a fine actually doesn't move the traffic along at all". Both have points, but both see it from one perspective. We need common ground if we are to shift all the rubbish that has accumulated under this giant carpet we've created.