Anyone who’s driven or walked through Athens or other Greek cities or towns can tell you that traffic lights seem to be advisory given how drivers run red lights, and that if you can’t find a parking place on the street the sidewalk will do just fine.
While it seems like no one’s paying attention, the traffic police said they are getting more than 1,000 calls a day about parking offense alone which until recently were the responsibility of municipal police, thousands of whom are going to be transferred to other positions or be fired as part of additional austerity measures with the likely cessation of the department.
That means that the regular police will now be charged with writing tickets as well, diverting them from other duties. The city of Athens lost 1,030 The traffic police are receiving more than 1,000 calls a day regarding parking offenses, which were until recently the responsibility of the municipal police force, which was disbanded as the government strains to meet civil service mobility targets agreed with the troika.
The City of Athens has lost 1,030 municipal police as a result of the government’s decision to close down the service and the impact on the capital’s roads has been noticeable, with drivers flouting parking rules.
On Aug. 11 alone, the traffic police fielded 1,107 calls from residents complaining about illegally parked cars and motorcycles. During 2011 and 2012, the Athens municipal police issued 1.19 million parking tickets. Despite that, cars are littered all over sidewalks everywhere in the city and drivers even use pedestrian walkways when they want to take a shortcut, sometimes even in front of police sitting and watching them.
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