National Police deputy chief Sar Thet advised police forces in all districts to tow any vehicle parked illegally. But a shortage of towing vehicles has crimped enforcement measures.
Thet told The Post on Tuesday that authorities had not strictly enforced the law for vehicles that did not respect traffic laws because in some districts there are no towing vehicles to haul illegally parked ones.
“We need a lot of towing vehicles. So far we have asked the city for seven, but we have not yet received them.
“We currently have a pickup truck each for the district centre in four major urban areas and at the headquarters of the traffic police office of four commissioners. This totals to eight vehicles,” he said.
On Monday, Thet advised all district deputy police chiefs to pay more attention in leading forces to organise order on the roads. Vehicles that park in prohibited areas must be hauled away by district police and the road traffic department.
Phnom Penh Municipal Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey said he did not know about the request for more towing vehicles. He said some districts still do not have enough tools to work with, but authorities in these districts do not ignore vehicles that affect public order.
“In regards to the municipal administration, we always help to tackle the issues. We do not wait to have everything to process our work,” he said.
Daun Penh district police chief Tieng Chansa said in his district, the authorities haul all types of vehicles parked illegally to the district police office before issuing fines.
“We do it to make vehicle owners respect order in society and to protect against traffic accidents,” he said.
The Ministry of Public Works and Transport on Monday also clarified that it will start to fine all vehicles that have not been inspected before July 1.
Ministry spokesman Chuon Vorn could not be reached for comment but has previously said before traffic regulations were imposed on May 1, about 60 per cent of the nearly one million vehicles registered with it had not been subject to technical inspection.
Vehicles that do not have technical inspections by July 1 will be fined up to 2,000 riel ($.50) per day.
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