AT the end of the year, Palma City Council is to set up video cameras to monitor streets where traffic access is restricted, putting paid to their use by drivers who are still flouting the law, the Transport department said yesterday.
Cars are still driving through Es Jonquet and Calle Ses Monges which are both legally categorised as Restricted Use Areas (Acire).
But the days of such practices are numbered as ten small streets in this area, as well as another five further in towards the city centre next to Calle Colom, are going to have a video camera system set up which will capture car number plates. The City Council will then be able to have a much tighter control on drivers going in and out of the restricted area.
The Transport department said that the cameras will be set up gradually in line with the progress that is being made on the software. The move comes as a result of the Council not wanting to replace the retractable pilons in the restricted areas which have been mal-functioning for a period of two years now. For the moment, the new video camera plans will affect three of the 11 restricted areas of the city, although if the results from the trial tests in the first quarter of next year prove successful, the camera system will swiftly be installed in the remaining eight.
Apparently resistance to the system is coming mostly from people living close to the areas which will fall under the spotlight and from the Partido Popular (PP) in opposition on the council who have voiced concern that the video system is just another way of eking out fines out of Palma's citizens.
The Transport department said that permits are already provided to residents and drive through-only licenses have been given to delivery vehicles but that for the public to assume it's legal to park because they are not blocking the way would be a mistake.