This paper describes in detail a control scheme for the overnight parking of heavy goods vehicles, which was introduced in Singapore in 1995. The numbers of heavy goods vehicles, which are defined as those over 5 000 kg in maximum laden weight, doubled during the 10-year period between 1980 and 1990. Goods vehicles constitute a higher proportion of the total vehicle fleet as compared with other countries, and hence require relatively more parking space. There were insufficient overnight parking facilities for them. This has resulted in the indiscriminate parking of heavy goods vehicles along roads in new towns and private residential estates. The indiscriminate parking posed safety hazards and noise nuisance. Furthermore, many drivers of heavy goods vehicles belonging to factories drove them home to find a parking space, and in the process added to traffic congestion on the roads during the peak hours by using them as private transport. The measures proposed to deal with the problem were: (a) to provide sufficient parking spaces for goods vehicles and to license these spaces; (b) to make proof of having a designated overnight parking space a requirement for registration and road-tax renewals of new heavy goods vehicles; and (c) to make it an offence for these vehicles to park unattended on a road, other than at a designated lot, between midnight and 06:00h. The scheme was successfully planned and completed by the middle of 1995. Initial results show that the total number of accidents attributable to illegal heavy vehicle parking has decreased. There is insufficient evidence to determine conclusively whether the practice of using heavy goods vehicles as private transport has decreased. The number of complaints on illegal parking of heavy goods vehicles has decreased. In order to keep pace with the future growth of the heavy goods vehicle population, it will be necessary to continue to increase the number of parking spaces.
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