Filenews 19 November 2021 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
At 1,700 daily, complaints from the cameras of the Traffic Police arrived, which shows that the drivers do not comply, either because they are not familiar with the system, or because they know that if they break the law they will not receive an out-of-court notice but a warning.
The photo-labelling system began operating on a pilot basis from October 25th and in this context four fixed cameras have been installed in Nicosia, while four other mobile phones record driver violations within cities and in the interurban network. According to information from "F", more than 50% of the complaints (around a thousand) concern exceeding the speed limit (mainly recorded by the mobile cameras) and the rest the violation of the red traffic light and the white line.
And all this without editing the photos of the offending drivers, to see whether at the time they were reported by the cameras, they were wearing their belts or talking with their cell phone in hand. When the processing is done it is expected that the complaints will increase.
In the meantime, although the system began recording illegalities 24 days ago, not a single warning has yet been sent to the offending drivers. We addressed the Minister of Transport, Yiannis Karousos, on the issue, who told us that this is due to the fact that the Agreement of the Police with the contractor company for the management of citizens' personal data has not been approved so far by the Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data. Once this is done, then the company that will manage the system will also send the letters to those drivers photographed by the cameras. At the same time, Mr. Karousos expressed the assessment that with the normal operation of the system from 1/1/2022 the drivers will comply to a greater extent, because then they will know that they will receive an extrajudicial notice instead of a notice.
It is noted that with the new year, the second phase will be implemented, which foresees that the company will install another 16 mobile and another 20 fixed cameras. The next two phases will follow and within two years and four months it is expected that the installation of ninety fixed and 20 mobile cameras on the road network throughout Cyprus will be completed.
According to data available to the Ministry of Transport from the operation of similar systems abroad, a reduction in road traffic collisions of around 40% is expected. It is also planned to place warning signs in conspicuous places. The cost of installing the system amounts to € 8 million. and the operating cost for five years is estimated at €35 million.
