Middle Cove traffic jam: Can anything more be done to ease the capelin traffic congestion?

The tickets have been written, and the signs have gone up — but still, capelin season means traffic jams near Middle Cove Beach in the town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove.

Each year when the capelin roll, so do the vehicles: Hundreds of people flocking to the beach, parking their cars up and down both sides of Marine Drive.

• VIDEO | Late capelin roll attracts crowds to Middle Cove for unofficial start of summer

Mayor John Kennedy says only a few people are breaking the rules, but it's causing a big headache for the town. If cars are parked on both sides, it's difficult for emergency vehicles to get to the public park, he says.

"Anything that's been listed is there for the safety of everyone that's there, and that's the message that we're trying to get through," he told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

But despite the repeated warnings, the traffic congestion comes back each year.

"I don't know if there's anything else we can do," Kennedy said.

"I mean we've done public awareness campaigns, we've posted signs, we've talked to people down there. You just try to repeat the message often enough, and hopefully it'll get through."

Kennedy says the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary had to make multiple visits on Wednesday night to ticket vehicles.

The Constabulary did not have an estimate of tickets written, but it did say that it does tend to see people parked on both sides of the "already narrow roadway."

"[This] prevents two-way traffic and potentially fire and emergency vehicles," said Const. Geoff Higdon.