Filenews 12 April 2022 - by Michalis Hadjivasilis
The contractor gave a schedule that stipulates that by the end of May, all out-of-court fines will have been sent by the traffic cameras, which are delayed. The company's promises were given in a new meeting held yesterday under the Minister of Transport Giannis Karousos, in the light of the thousands of violations that have been recorded, however, their mission to the drivers is delayed. As stated by the Assistant Director of the Traffic Department at the Police Headquarters, Haris Evripidou, so far 53,000 violations have been recorded by the eight cameras of the Traffic Police. Of these, 8,000 and perhaps more have been sent to offenders. The Minister of Transport appeared yesterday at the meeting intense for the schedules so that the system can move forward. As Mr. Karousos stated in "F", everyone is working so that things go smoothly and added that the system will go to the next phase, but only when all out-of-court settlements are served. The company, he said, has the opportunity to prove that everything is going smoothly, so that on May 30 we can go from the pilot to the first phase. The company, however, appeared ready to fulfil its promises and its representative stated that from the end of next month, in 24 hours the out-of-court settlement will be sent. To prove that the cameras are sited where they should be, he cited as an example the case of a driver who passed too fast and in red at the intersection of Griva Digeni and Demosthenes Severis Avenues with the risk of causing multiple traffic accidents, possibly fatal. His violation was recorded by the cameras, the Traffic Police was informed and the case was registered in the Court for immediate trial. According to Mr. Karousos, the Government wants the cameras, which came to stay, and matters improved so that the extrajudicial ones can be sent in time to the offenders. According to Mr. Evripidou, it is expected that now the rates of service of out-of-court settlements will increase and that according to the legislation, the company has 180 days to serve the out-of-court settlement from the time a violation is registered. At the moment, about 400-500 complaints are recorded per day from the cameras, while in the initial implementation of the system, the violations were 1,300. A driver from the day he receives the out-of-court settlement has 30 days at his disposal to pay it electronically and if 45 days pass then another 50% additional fine is imposed. If the fee is still not paid, then the case is sent for trial by the Court.
