The parking company's "spider" tow trucks hauled off 135 illegally parked cars in Centar in a single week

From October 5 to 11, the special "spider" tow trucks of the Centar Municipality public parking company (POC) removed 135 illegally parked vehicles, an average of around 19 a day. The operation was carried out together with the Skopje Traffic Police, and it targeted cars that were obstructing the normal and safe flow of traffic.

Vehicles parked on footpaths, pavements and traffic lanes remain an everyday problem in Skopje's busiest municipality. The company says the removals will continue every day across the whole municipality. But even they admit the tow truck isn't enough: "A lasting solution to traffic congestion and the problem of illegal parking requires a stronger traffic culture," says POC.

That's true, but it's also convenient. A driver who leaves a car on the pavement does so because they reckon they won't be punished. And 135 vehicles in a week, in a municipality where illegal parking is part of daily life, hardly changes that calculation. Pedestrians with prams and cyclists forced out onto the road see every day where the tow truck didn't get to.

Traffic culture doesn't fall from the sky. It is built with a fine that comes every time, not now and then. Will this pace hold once the operation stops being news?