ATHENS, Sept. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Experts recommend that the traffic control measures taken during last month's Olympic Summer Games and the current Paralympics should be kept in Athens permanently, as they have proven to relieve one of Europe's worst traffic congestions.

    The final decision will be taken by the Environment and Public Works Ministry soon.

    Athenians have surprised everybody with the traffic discipline they exercised during the August 13-29 Olympic Games, but the situation got back to notorious daily chaos right after the measures were lifted.

    This was partly due to the mass return of holiday-makers and beginning of the new school year, as well as relaxation of the measures in the period between the Olympics and the Paralympic games. Only part of the measures are implemented now for the Paralympics.

    Compared to the August 2003 figures, all kinds of traffic rule violations during the "Olympic" August 2004 have reduced by an average of 20-30 percent, only to rise again after the end of the Games, official figures show.

    "Olympic" experience has shown that banning of left turns on main boulevards increases average speed and defuses bottleneck effects on the main arteries of 80 km-long urban stretch, although somewhat increasing traffic in side-streets.

    Unlicensed parking, above all double-parking and blocking of the pedestrian and disabled-adjusted passages, remains one of the main problems in car-congested Athens, strict patrolling should continue beyond the Olympic period, experts say.

    Limiting of shops' business hours to non-peak and night was another measure introduced for the Olympics that proved efficient, since majority of small, family owned shops have no parking space.

    Authorities were hoping that Athenians will also change their car-bound mentality, as they were very satisfied with the reformed and further modernized public transport systems during the Games.

    However, the first September days prove this to be an exaggerated expectation.

    European Day without cars was observed Wednesday in Athens and Thessaloniki, with free public transportation only, but not by banning of auto traffic in city center, due to the Paralympic needs, officials say. Enditem