The volume of parking violations resulting in the confiscation of license plates has over saturated the ability of the Consejo de Seguridad Vial (Cosevi) to deal with the return in a timely manner, even though it has increased the hours of operations and overtime costs.
Cindy Coto, director of the Cosevi, said that on this week they began paying overtime to officials of the Registro de Multas y Devolución de Placas (Fines Registration and Plate Return Units) with the objective of speeding up the return of plates.
Between July 27, the date the Ley de Transito (Traffic Law) reforms kicked in, to July 28 the Policia de Transito (Transit police) reports having confiscated more than 1,500 pairs of license plates issued to drivers parking their vehicles in prohibited areas, blocking fire hydrants, blocking driveways, yellow zones, parking on sidewalks, too close to corners and more.
The fine illegal parking is ¢51.316 colones, plus court costs.
However, the high cost of retrieving the seized license plates is on time, a trip to the local Cosevi office where the plates are being kept, up to a three day wait or more for the plates to get to the Cosevi (the time the traffic officials have to hand over the confiscated plates) and lines up to four or five hours or more.
In addition, all outstanding fines (for the driver and the vehicle) must be paid, the Marchamo (circulation permit) and Riteve (vehicular inspection) must also be current.
Cosevi officials are hoping drivers take conscience of where they park to avoid conscience and reduce the work overload and additional cost in paying overtime salaries.
Coto said it won’t until the end of August when they have a clear picture of the extra cost in salaries.
“The structure of Cosevi cannot change, I cannot hire more people, but we did have a budget allocated for overtime for this type of eventualities,” added Coto.