In many areas of Chennai, haphazard parking has become the norm, with two-wheelers, cars and even medium and heavy vehicles blocking traffic, causing problems to pedestrians and residents.
While there are a number of plans to regulate the parking in different areas, there are very few full-fledged studies to ensure that the parking plans will be effective, experts say. In LB Road, for example, haphazard parking has often proved to be a problem, both on the main road and in the side roads.
R. Maheshwari, whose house is in Kamaraj Nagar, off LB Road, says the issue is especially grave for those living along the by-lanes. “Often, there are cars parked in front of my gate for hours, making it impossible for me to enter and leave the house,” she said.
The Institute of Road Traffic, along with IIT-Madras, has now studied the traffic along the road to come up with a comprehensive parking plan. “We studied the road for two days from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. to see which the bottleneck areas are, and where parking caused major problems. This study was to see how parking along the road could be regulated,” Jose Patris, deputy director, Research, IRT said.
The solution is to ensure that there are specific zones where parking is allowed, and strict regulation is needed in the other areas, the study recommends. “Multi-level parking is not the only solution; instead, we have looked at different intersections along the road that have sufficient space for parking,” Gitakrishnan Ramadurai, Department of Transportation Engineering, IIT-M said.
“The main problems are bottlenecks in several areas of LB Road, and in many places, the shops and the sidewalks are blocked by parked cars and two-wheelers,” he said, adding that there needed to be a balance between regulated parking and additional infrastructure like multilevel parking to solve the city’s parking problem.
Get thy papers
in order
A lack of attention to documentation could cost you heavily, especially if the responsibility for someone else’s blunder falls on you.
Dilip Kumar, a Chennai-based businessman, discovered this recently when a police sub-inspector landed at his doorstep on a calm Saturday afternoon. A decade ago, he had sold his scooter to a friend who himself sold the vehicle later. Kumar knew his scooter trail only to the third buyer but what was unknown to him was that at some point, his old vehicle got involved in a hit-and-run case. Legally speaking, he is at fault!
Regional Transport Department sources and city police add that many like Kumar make the mistake of not completing the Transfer of Ownerships forms number 29 and 30 while selling a vehicle. Thus, the vehicle remains under the name of the original owner who is liable in case of an accident.
During the sale of a vehicle, the buyer and seller need to fill and sign both the forms and submit it to the Regional Transport Office under the jurisdiction of residence of the buyer.
The Original Registration Certificate of the vehicle and a copy of proof of address of the buyer must be furnished along with the submission which has a government fee.
Following address verification, the Regional Transport Officer stamps the change of ownership on the RC making the sale of vehicle legal.
While the RC goes to the buyer, the seller retains a copy of the RC with the fresh stamp.
(Reporting by
Kavita Kishore and
Petlee Peter)
