A total of 1,282 drivers were fined for parking in spots reserved for the disabled in the first nine months of the year, Phileleftheros reported on Wednesday.
This is an improvement on corresponding figures for 2017 (1,914) and 2016 (2,761), but shows police and organised groups representing the disabled face an uphill task to persuade drivers to comply with the law.
According to Phileleftheros, one of the factors contributing to fewer violations of the law was a 85 euro fine which it said is due to double under proposed new traffic rules.
Acting on the advice of the attorney general, police now issue out-of-court fines to drivers who illegally park in spots reserved for the disabled not only on the street but in supermarket and football stadium car parks and anywhere else there may be a ‘disabled parking’ sign.
Most of the drivers booked were in the free Famagusta area with 306, followed by Limassol with 270, Larnaca with 209, Paphos with 65 and Morphou with just one.
Another 203 drivers were issued fines by traffic police from police headquarters.
Overall, 9,884Â drivers have so far this year been booked for illegal parking (on pavements, double yellow line etc). This is worse than the 9,715 illegal parking offences reported in 2017 and the 9,163 in 2016.
