Driver mistakes turn-waiting zone for parking Spot 駕駛誤把機車待轉區當停車格  拖吊挨罰

Man mistakenly blocked the road with his SUV were fined NT$600 to 1,200.

Presenter: At 8 a.m. on Sept. 21, police received a report about a SUV illegally parked in the scooter turn-waiting zone at the intersection of Xizhi's Datong Road and Xinyi Road. The police issued a fine and had the car towed, but this turned out to be controversial because the space was not specifically labeled as a turn-waiting zone.

The driver of this SUV thought he'd found a parking space, but ended up with a towed car and a fine. Police say he parked in a scooter turn-waiting zone.

Citizen 1: “A parking space isn't that small. The driver should have known that.”

Citizen 2: ” That's obviously a turn-waiting area. Who would put a parking space there?”

The illegally parked car was reported to the police around 8 a.m. on the 21st. The police issued a fine of NT$600 to NT$1,200 and had the car towed. The driver says the turn-waiting zone is not labeled as such and off the main road, and wants to know how drivers are supposed to tell the difference.

Huang Chien-chih, Deputy Director, Xizhi Precinct Traffic Police:”Generally speaking, there are no parking spaces within 10 meters of an intersection. The intersection in question has a turn-waiting zone for scooters.” 

Police say drivers should know there are no parking spaces within 10 meters of intersections, not to mention the space was clearly too small for a SUV. New Taipei's transportation department responded that turn-waiting zones are generally labeled as such at T-intersections because it can be more difficult to distinguish between them and parking spaces. 

接近一部車的大小，銀色休旅車停在格子內，以為找到停車格，沒想到卻遭到拖吊開罰，駕駛這才發現，誤把"機車待轉區"，當作"路邊停車格"。

民眾1：「停車格沒有這麼小，開車的人應該就知道。」

民眾2：「看也知道待轉格吧，怎麼停車格，怎麼會設在這。」

車輛違規停放，發生在21號上午8點多，新北汐止大同、信義路口，員警到場確認違規，依道路交通管理處罰條例，開罰600到1200元，並認定妨礙人車通行，通知相關單位執行拖吊，但這裡的待轉格，未劃在正路口，地面也沒有待轉標示，如何區分，引起討論。

新北市汐止警分局交通分隊副分隊長 黃健智：「一般路口10公尺，我們不會設有停車格，而該路口也有設有機車待轉區的標示。」

警方強調，路口轉彎處10公尺，不會設置停車格，以休旅車為例，想要停進機車待轉區，也能發現非常勉強，而新北交通局則回應，只有在T字路口，較容易產生民眾誤會，因此，地面才會特別加註待轉字樣。