The old dog racing track, called the Canódromo, is the site where motorcycles and other vehicles are taken by the authorities for infractions, or placed there after recovery. Motorcycle driver recklessness is known to cause upwards of 70% of traffic accidents in the country. The retaining of the motorcycles was to reduce accidents during the Easter Week.
But now, getting these back is a scene from Dante, as hundreds of persons try and find their motorized transportation, as reported in Diario Libre. The Ground Transit and Traffic Agency (Digesett), calls the area “the Coco,” and that is where the long lines of people go to get back their motorcycles after having them confiscated for any number of infractions of Law 63-17 (which replaced Law 241 on everything to do with traffic and vehicles).
Most of the vehicles were taken into custody during Holy Week, People with documentation, helmets, reflectors, light bulbs and other missing accessories congregated at the Canódromo, located at the intersection of Av. Monumental and Av. Colombia to show that they had paid their fines and obtained the needed items to validate repossession of the equipment.
People were lined up by the Digesett agents, who herded them to a small cubicle where each set of documents was examined. Then, ten by ten, with legal paperwork in hand, they were taken inside the area where they are checked once more and then proceeded to search for their property among the thousands that are parked there.
On the one hand, the owners complained that they lost hours trying to retrieve their property, which, in many cases, they claim was unjustifiably confiscated. On the other hand, the Digesett agents say that the confiscation of vehicles is covered by Art. 189 of Law 63-17 (the new traffic code) that permits removing a vehicle in violation of the code.
30 April 2019