Press release, 11.02.2015

The Department of Transport agreed with YABLOKO’s proposal to impose an SMS-warning system on towing of vehicles. If the driver manages to displace their car it won’t be towed.

The plans to impose YABLOKO’s proposals are in the answer signed by head of Moscow Department of Transport Maxim Lyskutiv.

The press service of the Department confirmed the information yesterday. The calculations of the Department of Transport have shown that it’s possible to give drivers 16 minutes to displace their car. YABLOKO proposed 15 minutes.

“We will seek for a speedy start of our proposal since all the technical potential are at the Moscow Government disposal. A warning about a towing will reduce a large number of conflicts. We expect the authorities to bring to life our other proposals which are indisputable the same as the SMS-warning,” noted YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin.

YABLOKO also proposed a number of measures to improve the towing-system in Moscow:

– to prohibit towing in cases where a road sign is contrary to the parking layout , as well as when a vehicle is parked in a parking pocket. Such ambiguous situations, the so-called “parking traps “, must be unequivocally interpreted in favor of a driver.

– to conduct a check of all the city areas where parking of vehicles is prohibited, eliminate the “parking traps”, as well as justify the use of marks “stop is forbidden” in each case.

– to eliminate the practice of mandatory fees for the towing as a condition to bring back a vehicle. A driver must get the opportunity to pay for services at a convenient time