New parking regulations launched for disabled
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, April 24
Disabled people in Tbilisi are waiting for new movement signs which will make it easier for them to use special parking places.
The Appeals Court of Georgia satisfied the motion of the non-governmental organization Partnership for Human Rights (PHR), which was asking for the replacement of a previous parking regulation for disabled persons with a new and more flexible one.
After the decision of the Court, on December 27, the Sakrebulo adopted new rules for parking regulations for disabled persons, which fully reflects the demands of the PHR.
Under the previous regulations, people with disabilities could use special parking places only if the vehicle was registered to them.
The new regulation envisages that disabled people can use special parking areas any time with any kind of transport, no matter if they are registered on them or not. To ensure this, special movement signs will be used, which will be granted to the disabled people and not to the transport means they use.
The disabled people can attach these signs to the transport they drive.
Moreover, under old regulations, the parents of underage disabled children were unable to use special parking areas.
Under the new law, the parents or legal representatives of disabled children or people can use special parking areas while transporting such persons.
The special moving signs will be distributed to people with disabilities for free on the basis of their applications.
“Unlike the previous signs, which included the number of the vehicle, possessed by the disabled person, the new sign contains only the information about the person: name, surname and ID number. This is very flexible and the main achievement is that the sign will now belong to a disabled person and not to a vehicle,” Nana Gochiashvili from PHR said.
However, despite the court verdict, people with disabilities are unable to get new signs.
The Civil Transport Service says that the delay was caused due to a tender process.
“We have undergone all necessary procedures and only tender hinders us to fulfill the court decision. This process will be over in the near future and we will start distribution of the signs,” Mamuka Mumladze, head of the Civil Transport Service, said.
