City Drivers Face Increased Fines for Illegal Parking

By Yelena Minenko

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: July 4, 2012 (Issue # 1716)

ALEXANDER BELENKY / SPT Inconsiderate drivers will now have to pay for the cost of towing expenses, which have been set by the city at 2,700 rubles.

Drivers of illegally parked cars will now be obligated to pay not only a fine for violating the law, but also the cost of towing their vehicle under new federal and local laws that came into force Sunday.

Under the previous law, towing costs were included in the city’s budget. Drivers who left their cars parked illegally had to pay a fine of 300 rubles ($9.30) for improper parking. From July 1, the fine has increased to 3,000 rubles ($93) for St. Petersburg and Moscow, and does not include towing expenses, which were set at 2,700 rubles per car by the Tariff Committee of St. Petersburg and are to be paid by the lawbreaker.

If the driver of a towed vehicle doesn’t consider themselves guilty, they will have to pay the fines anyway in order to get the car back, and later will have to go through a series of court sessions to prove their innocence and get a refund.

“There’s going to be a real witch-hunt for drivers,” said Alexander Kholodov, a representative of the Freedom of Choice motorists’ organization, during a roundtable discussion of the new law on Thursday.

“By passing this law, officials aren’t solving the problem — the parking space won’t be vacated because in the place of the towed car another will appear right away, the city’s budget won’t get much from fines, and only the commercial companies who tow the vehicles will make a profit.”

Vehicles will be towed by five commercial organizations that were selected from other candidates, according to Denis Ganenkov, a representative of the city’s Tariffs Committee.

“They handed in applications with their expenses and the Tariff Committee of St. Petersburg considered them when proposing the new towing tariff,” said Ganenkov.

In addition to the increased prices, the parking rules have become stricter. Previously, an illegally parked car could be towed only if it was in the way of other vehicles and was hindering traffic. Under the new law, cars can be towed away even when they are not blocking traffic, but are left on sidewalks, near pedestrian crossings and at bus stops, for example.

In other countries, car towing is often a last resort. In the U.S., towing is an exceptional measure undertaken only if the car is really blocking the way. In other cases, wardens simply write out a fine and leave notice of this on the windshield, or use wheel clamps. In the Netherlands, the course of action taken depends on how long the car is left in an improper place. The driver has the opportunity to pay the fine before the car is towed away.

“The situation won’t be changed by these new rules; it is just a deterrent measure, and wardens will fine chance victims instead of those who hinder the traffic flow to a greater extent,” said Igor Golubev, president of Lat, a company offering automobile- and insurance-related assistance, including a towing service.

Critics say the new rules contradict Russian law, of which a main principle is the presumption of innocence. In order for the vehicle to be released, payment must be made, but according to the law, the payment is to be paid by the lawbreaker.

“The inspector has to prove that the person who came to pick up the car is the same person who violated the law, and if they do so, it is a one-in-a-million case,” said Alexei Novikov, a St. Petersburg representative of StopKham, an organization that combats badly behaved drivers.

Novikov doesn’t believe that the new rules will ameliorate the problem of illegal parking. He believes in other methods.

“We go out on the streets, mainly in the city center, and try to talk to drivers who park illegally and make them move their cars. If they don’t listen to us, we put a sticker on their windshield,” said Novikov.

“In most cases, people do move their cars, and at least for some time — during the period when we are patrolling the streets — nobody parks there illegally. That’s already something; people start to think.”

Analysts say the best way to solve the problem of identifying lawbreakers is to have video cameras in the streets that would show who violated the law, when and where. They could also help to identify any damage caused by tow trucks to vehicles, since this is not covered by regular car insurance.

“When a car is towed away, the lawbreaker is usually absent, and without them it is impossible to draw up a damage claim,” said Sergei Krasnov, senior lecturer in law at the insurance department of St. Petersburg Institute of Governance and Law.

“Insurance companies won’t want to get involved because the situation is rather vague. There is only one solution: Go on foot or park in paid car parks.”