Cyprus Mail 10 August 2019 - article by Annette Chrysostomou
THERE is a new model in place to catch traffic offenders, both on the motorways and in the towns, head of the traffic department Yiannakis Georgiou said on Friday.
Speed control on the motorway is changing, with triple checks replacing the single check which has been in place so far.
“The drivers picked up speed once they passed a police check, and drove as fast as they wanted because they assumed there would be no more checks on the same route, there will now be three checks at different parts of the highway, 5, 10 or 15 kilometres apart to send the message to drivers that they must comply with the speed limit throughout their journey,” Georgiou said.
According to the head of the traffic department one driver has already been caught speeding three times on the same stretch of road due to the use of this new method which started a few days ago.
Police will also change the way they book drivers who commit offences in the towns. Instead of leaving their vehicles to conduct such checks, they will now carry out inspections while driving, or from motorbikes, in other words, ‘on-the-go checks’.
The idea is, Georgiou explained, for that drivers should feel they can be caught at any time. These changes follow another one implemented last month.
Police chief Kypros Michaelides announced on July 10 that traffic police officers would no longer play “hide-and-seek” to catch offenders, that is, they will not hide behind bushes or other objects in order to surprise drivers.
“Our goal is the prevention of traffic accidents, the decrease of fatal road accidents and the minimisation of human pain” and not a big number of police reports and tickets, Michaelides said at the time.
“Police hide-and-seek will stop, some bad practices inside the police force will stop. This practice was not in the guidelines of any previous leadership, neither was the goal of giving out a big number of tickets,” he added.
