In response to concerns raised by members of the community about the road safety, fairness of access and accessibility impacts of illegal parking in town centres around the Shire, Murrindindi Shire Council is embarking on a 'fair parking' campaign.
Infrastructure Portfolio Councillor, Eric Lording said Council officers have been investigating the broader parking violation problem, and resulting safety issues, for some time.
"We recently monitored parking in Marysville and Yea over a two-day period and, during this time, recorded three cars parked across driveways, two cars without valid permits parked in disabled spots, six cars overstaying the time indicated on the sign, six cars parked outside parking bay lines, two cars parked in 'no stopping' zones and one car parked in a 'no parking' zone. Council officers issued a mixture of warnings and fines (depending on the offence) during that period.
"Enforcing parking violations isn't just about ensuring everyone has the opportunity to park conveniently when they need to access the shops or are doing the school run, it's also about safety. 'No parking' and 'No Stopping' zones are there for a reason, such as guaranteeing emergency vehicles have the access they need when the need it. Please do keep that in mind, even if you're just planning to 'double park' or stop for a second. Likewise, if you stop in a disabled parking bay and you don't have a valid permit, please pause to consider how your actions will impact some of our most vulnerable community members. And whether that extra bit of distance you might have to cover on foot is really worth denying someone with mobility challenges access to the shop or facility they need.
"We're also focused on raising awareness about safety around schools. Increasingly, we're seeing parents and carers parking in bus zones and 'No Stopping' zones during school drop-off and pick-up times. We understand the hullabaloo of getting kids where they need to go on time is stressful, but parking in these zones, especially when there's vehicles and kids going in all directions, can result in obstructed pedestrian visibility, and that has the potential to have terrible consequences," Cr Lording said.
"We appreciate that parking laws aren't something we have enforced across the board in the past, but the growing volume of offences and risk posed by some of these offences leaves us no choice but to act for the sake of the whole-community wellbeing.
"That's why we're launching a 'fair parking' campaign in the coming weeks. The campaign will see Council officers issuing warnings for low-level parking violations and infringement notices for high-level parking violations (violations which put other community members at risk).
"The 'fair parking' campaign will be carried out in line with our new Compliance and Enforcement Policy.
If you have any questions about parking rules in Victoria, check out VicRoads' website, they have a fantastic summary of types of parking, parking lines and zones and other stopping and parking rules," Cr Lording added.
