— Fine to double from €40 to €80.
— Campaigners welcome the change, calling for camera enforcement.
Motorists who illegally park on footpaths, cycle tracks, bus lanes are to be liable for a fine of €80 from February 1, 2022, the Department of Transport has said today.
Campaigners welcomed the change and called for more enforcement, including camera enforcement. Other countries have camera enforcement using council-run cars with cameras mounted and via cameras on buses.
Local authorities have said for years that the current level of fine means that parking enforcement is loss-making.
Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, said “I am very pleased to announce these increased penalties which will both promote active travel and encourage a more considerate use of road space. Parking on footpaths puts vulnerable pedestrians, such as wheelchair users and those pushing buggies, at significant risk by forcing them off the footpath and into traffic. Parking in bus and cycle lanes endangers cyclists and undermines.
He added; “State investment in sustainable public transport infrastructure. These increases should help improve the safety of all vulnerable road and footpath users, by creating a more effective deterrent to these specific forms of illegal parking.”
Minister of State with responsibility for Road Safety Hildegarde Naughton, said: “Obstructing footpaths, bus lanes and cycle tracks can confront vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, with particularly dangerous obstacles on busy roads, while also forcing tricky manoeuvres upon buses and cars who may be attempting to overtake such careless parking.”
She added: “These new penalties will safeguard families and communities as they make use of our growing network of active travel infrastructure and will encourage more people to walk and cycle as Government invests almost €1 million per day on projects across the country.
Dublin Commuter Coalition welcomed the change but said that more enforcement is needed.
The group said: “The fine for illegally parking on footpaths, cycle lanes and bus lanes will increase from €40 to €80. This is a change we had been asking for. A bigger change we’re still asking for is increased enforcement (especially camera enforcement for bus lanes).”
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They wouldn’t be loss-making if they visited tullyvale cherrywood, past Luas, every Sunday 10-12ish am. I’ve reported many times up to 8 cars on a cycling track and never saw a gardai car…
80 euro is a joke. It’l change nothing. I had to help a woman in a wheelchair across the road and back again before Christmas, in order for her to get around a large expensive car on the footpath, blocking her wheelchair. *80 euros wont be a problem for that driver.