Filenews 18 November 2022 - by Michalis Hatzivasilis
More than one in two drivers in Cyprus got an out-of-court complaint this year, either from the members of the Traffic Police or from the cameras. Police data, this year, show that as of September 30, 134,982 driver complaints had been made. If all 130,000 recordings from the cameras are counted, then about 265,000 drivers were reported, a very large number by Cypriot standards.
According to evidence submitted to the Parliament by the Minister of Justice Stefi Drakou, it seems that on the roads there is a "massacre" of drivers who are accused of serious and non-serious traffic violations. Especially this year, when the traffic measures imposed due to the coronavirus have been lifted. Most complaints concern exceeding the speed limit (58,969) while another 5,870 concern the safety zone. Another 5,820 drivers were also reported for holding a mobile phone while driving. Complaints about alcohol consumption by drivers are also increased, as 39,365 checks and 3,309 complaints were made. Regarding the bad habit of motorcyclists not to wear a helmet, the Police made 1,026 complaints. A further 59,988 complaints were also made concerning other violations of the Highway Code.
It is characteristic that this year the Traffic Police did not make a single observation to a driver, but issued 4,264 warnings. Of the 134,982 complaints, 121,971 were issued out of court and for the remaining 13,011 cases were registered in the Courts (concerning driving with alcohol, drugs, non-possession of security, etc.).
Most of the complaints were made by members of the Police Headquarters Traffic Police (54,114) and concern highways mainly for speed. In the cities, the most complaints were made in Limassol after reaching 17,994, followed by Larnaca with 17,816, Nicosia third with 16,067, Famagusta with 14,090, Paphos with 12,281 and Morphou with 2,620 complaints.
In these complaints, if the 130,000 recorded by the photo-tagging system are also counted, then this year we will have a record number of extrajudicial cases given to drivers. Recently the complaints from the four fixed cameras and the four mobile ones reached 130,000 (operating from 1/1/2022). From these, some that were recorded due to a system error will be removed and the normal ones will be clarified, but again the numbers are unprecedented.
If it is calculated that in 2023 the second phase of the system will be received with the fixed ones becoming 24 and 20 mobiles, then the complaints will skyrocket in frightening numbers. However, according to information from "F", phase B is slow to come since there are problems that need to be solved so that the contractor's system does not get "stuck" from the many violations. Also, all pending out-of-court complaints from the cameras to date should be served so that there are no problems of the past with their non-timely sending to the offenders.
