On Wednesday, the legal committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved a legislative proposal, which provides that the traffic police will be able to remove illegally parked vehicles not only from the roadway, but also from the sidewalks, reports Agerpres. .

The legislative proposal amends Clause 1 of Article 64 of Government Emergency Decree No. 195/2002 on traffic on public roads.

“The traffic police can order to remove illegally parked vehicles. The lifting and storage of vehicles in specially designated places is carried out by local state administrations or the administrator of public roads, depending on the circumstances,” says the project initiated by USR deputy Katalin Drula.

According to the current regulation, traffic police officers can demand the removal of illegally parked vehicles on the roadway.

A condition set by the Government to support the project

The government has said it supports the legislative initiative on the condition that the repeal measure will only be ordered if the minimum distance of one meter for pedestrians is not observed.

“The reason is precisely that there is not enough parking spaces in Romania, and it would be practically impossible to lift all the vehicles from the sidewalks at the moment,” said Alexandru Popa, a representative of the Road Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to him, even now parking on the sidewalks is prohibited, but this administrative measure is not intended to increase traffic.

“Regarding the obligation of one meter, in its current form, local administrations are mandated to arrange parking lots on sidewalks with the condition of observing a distance of one meter for pedestrians. The novelty of the legislative initiative is that the phrase “on the side of the road” has been removed. The proposal is aimed at lifting all illegally parked vehicles, including on the sidewalk,” he explained.

USR: If we propose this condition, we will effectively allow everyone to shoot on the sidewalk

UDR deputy Stelian Ion stated that it is desirable to lift all cars, including those from the sidewalk, where there are no parking spaces on the sidewalk.

“I understand that you want to lift all the cars, including from the sidewalk, where there are no parking spaces on the sidewalk, that the law allows you to install such parking spaces with a distance of one meter. Some mayors take care of this and allow parking on the sidewalk and pedestrians. I understand that there is a shortage of parking spaces, but if we offer this condition, it means that we are effectively allowing everyone to shoot on the sidewalk,” added Stelian Ion.

The report on the adoption of the project was adopted by a majority of votes “for” and 2 votes “against”.

On September 13, the Industry Committee of the Chamber of Deputies also positively assessed the project.

The legislative proposal must be considered at the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, which is the decision-making body.