Kids in Coimbra will hand out moral fines for bad parking

The local authorities are hoping to change the adults’ improper traffic behaviours through their children

The European Mobility Week may be over, but the Municipality of Coimbra is still inspired to continue with creative actions in the field of traffic. This time around, the decision is to directly involve pupils from the local schools (3^rd and 4^th grades), who will receive pads containing traffic tickets, which they can place on incorrectly parked cars.

The unorthodox idea of turning kids into traffic cops has a “moral” dimension, as explained by the officials in the Portuguese city. The fine tickets will not contain a financial penalty and are instead meant to serve as something of a shaming device for the adult drivers who find them on their vehicles.

Plus, pupils get to learn the traffic rules from a young age

According to Tiago Cardoso, head of the Mobility, Transport and Transit Division of Coimbra, the Municipality had already tried that initiative in 2018 in some schools, but decided to re-launch it, now “with greater reach”. 

“It is a pad with ten tickets and our objective is to reach the parents. As in recycling it was through the kids in the schools, we think it is also important to start in schools to change these habits and get the kids to act as their own parents' inspectors", he said, stressing that the initiative should reach about two thousand children.

In the fine ticket pads that will be distributed, children will be able to mark various infractions that a driver is committing, such as parking on the sidewalk, on the crosswalk, in a place reserved for the disabled or on the road or at a bus stop. All of these are illustrated with an image.

But first, the children will be trained about the traffic rules. Their teachers will receive prepared PowerPoint presentations that show the various infractions, and which will be presented to the children before handing them the ticket pads.

According to the Head of the Mobility Division, the idea is also to implement a road education program in schools in the future. In addition to these moral fines, the municipality has reinforced the effective fines in the city with “an effort to increase inspection”. 

“What we see is anarchy throughout the city and in some specific spaces, and we want to increase inspections to the point that the probability of fines is so great that it is not worth the risk”, stated Tiago Cardoso, stressing that only in the first months of the revenue from fines has already exceeded the previous year's total.