ARCHIVED - Cartagena buys new multacars to enforce parking regulations: more fines!

Multa means fine, so watch out for the multacars!!!!!

The first multacar was responsible for 3,500 fines over a period of 14 years

Drivers in and around the city of Cartagena may have been relieved when the news broke last year that the “multacar”, the vehicle equipped to photograph cars parked where they shouldn’t be and issue the appropriate fines, had been retired from service, but the Town Hall and the local police force have no intention of desisting from enforcing parking regulations.

First, in response to various complaints from traders about irregularly parked vehicles the Policía Local repaired the car and brought it back into service to clamp down on those who disobey parking regulations, and now it has been announced that as part of a 420,000-euro renewal of the fleet of police vehicles new multacars are to be acquired.

Local by-laws in Cartagena forbid parking outside shops, cafés and stores in the centre before 11.00 in the morning except for loading and unloading, but people dropping their children at school and shoppers frequently fail to abide by this rule, causing an obstruction for traders taking deliveries. Fines for this offence can be as much as 200 euros, but when the multacar (“multa” means “fine” in Spanish) was temporarily withdrawn from service last year complaints from bar and shop owners increased as bottlenecks jammed the traffic in Calle Cañón, Calle Cañón con Príncipe de Vergara, Calle Jara and Plaza San Sebastián.

Since it first began patrolling the streets of Cartagena in 2006 the multacar, which is equipped with a rooftop camera similar to those adorning the vehicles used to compile the Street View function on Google Maps, has been responsible for around 3,500 fines, and now a second generation of the vehicles will act as a deterrent to motorists tempted to exceed speed limits and park wrongly in the city. The two new cars will be able to detect offences on both sides of the street while in motion, according to the Town Hall, so the word to drivers is “watch out, there’s a multacar about!

The full cost of the motor vehicle renewal project outlined by the Town Hall is calculated to be precisely 421,778.16 euros, which will finance the acquisition of 20 new vehicles including 6 patrol cars, 6 motorcycles and 4 4-by-4s.

The budget details announced this week also include 359,000 euros being set aside for the construction of a new police station in Pozo Estrecho, to be completed in 2021. The station will be manned by 31 officers covering an area which will include La Aljorra, El Albujón, Pozo Estrecho, Miranda, Santa Ana, Lentiscar, La Palma and Los Médicos, and serving 25,000 residents in these rural areas of the municipality of Cartagena.

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