MOTORISTS will have a two-day grace period before being fined after temporary roadside parking was made illegal again on certain roads and road sections, according to a new measure adopted by the traffic police authority in response to public complaints over receiving parking tickets without knowing roadside parking is now off-limits, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

The traffic police authority designated a number of temporary parking places on selected roads citywide to address parking difficulties amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as parking places in many communities and housing estates are closed to non-resident drivers.

However, vehicles parked on the roadsides have caused traffic congestion as road traffic increased following the resumption of work in Shenzhen.

The Daily said the traffic on Shennan, Huanggang and Hongli roads in Futian District became severely congested during the evening rush hour due to the vehicles parked on the section of Zhenhua Road between Huafu and Huaqiang North roads. The Zhenhua Road section was one of many that allowed temporary roadside parking during the epidemic outbreak.

The traffic police authority made public on its public WeChat account Friday evening that temporary roadside parking has been canceled on Zhenhua Road and Xiacun, Jinping, Buji and Lianhua roads in Longgang District. But on Saturday morning, many motorists said they had been ticketed for parking on Zhenhua Road.

“I think it would be more reasonable to issue a warning to drivers for illegal parking on the road rather than fining them without a warning,” said a driver surnamed Ding, who complained about being ticketed even though he didn’t know temporary parking is no longer allowed on Zhenhua Road.

The Daily report said vehicles were parked on both sides of Zhenhua Road on Monday morning, a few days after the policy allowing temporary parking was canceled, and all vehicles had been ticketed. Many of the drivers said that they were not aware that parking is not allowed on the road.

The traffic police authority said a two-day grace period will be given to motorists when the rest of temporary roadside parking is canceled. Manpower will be deployed to the roads where temporary parking will no longer be allowed.

However, the traffic authority did not respond to a question on whether the ticketed vehicles will still be penalized.

(Claudia Wei)