Driving and parking fines go up 80% during Spain's financial crisis, three-quarters of which are issued by town halls
Tuesday, May 5, 2015 @ 12:28 PM
PARKING and driving fines increased in number by more than 80% during the main 'crisis years', according to a study by motor insurer Línea Directa.
Between the years 2000 and 2006, a total of 16 million fines were handed out, compared to nearly double – 29 million – from 2007 to 2013 inclusive.
And a survey contained within the study shows 92% of drivers – 24 million in Spain - consider parking and traffic fines to be 'a clear way of making more money, since they do not believe driving standards can have got worse to such a degree or car-owners have suddenly become more careless about parking, and they also refer to the fact the amounts charged for parking fines have rocketed – from around €40 in 2006 to between €200 and €300 in 2012.
A total of 85% of drivers in Spain believe parking fines are a 'stealth tax', and only 11% believe speed cameras are set up for safety reasons.
An analysis of over 770,000 fines given out between 2009 and 2014 inclusive shows 50% were for speeding – which Línea Directa says is 'easier to prove' than drink-driving or mobile phone use at the wheel – and 38% were for parking 'illegally'.
And 24 million drivers, or 92%, say there is 'no point' in appealing against a parking or traffic fine because they have 'no chance' of winning, with 70% paying theirs before the deadline to take advantage of lower amounts, since they believe they would 'never win' if they appealed.
They have slammed their 'defencelessness' in the event of fines, since police do not have to stop drivers and inform them if they see them committing an offence, and parking and driving fines can be sent through the post anything up to a year after the illegality was detected, by which time the car-owner cannot usually remember what he or she had been doing on that day.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com