Cancun, Q.R. — Nearly a vehicle a day is being towed from Cancun streets in a clean up operation of abandoned cars. The City of Cancun began the clean up late last year and so far, reports around 25 vehicles a month are towed.
Ezequiel Segovia, the Director of Cancun Transit, says a small fine and a 24-hour notice to move the vehicle is left on the windshield before it is towed. He says most people move the vehicle off public property onto their own.
However, owners who ignore the 24-hour removal notice have the vehicles towed by the city. Segovia says the towed vehicles are in response to citizen complaints of old abandoned vehicles left on public roads.
He says while most of the towed cars are in response to citizen reports, city officials also do rounds on their own in search of scrapped vehicles left parked on public streets.
Segovia says the city began removing the old vehicles to clean up the city’s urban image as well as reduce crime.
“The penalty is very low, but the intention is that we clean the streets, that those vehicles are not parked there incorrectly,” he explained.
Segovia mentioned that in addition to being a nuisance to area residents, those abandoned vehicles sometimes also serve as a hiding place for criminals.