Filenews 7 March 2023
Since yesterday, six more traffic police cameras have been put into operation at two new fixed points in Nicosia, while at the same time, four more mobile cameras will be on the streets on a nationwide basis. Since yesterday, we have cameras at three controlled intersections in Nicosia and eight mobile cameras.
As the Head of Road Safety of the Traffic Headquarters, George Milis, told "F", the two new intersections are on Limassol Avenue with Armenia (two cameras that will control the straight line and not the turn in Armenia) and four cameras at the intersection of Grivas Digenis and Prodromou Avenues. Yesterday morning the last tests were carried out and from 10 in the morning the turn signals were officially turned on and denounced drivers who violated either the red, the speed limit or the white line.
Then, according to Mr. Milis, around the middle to the end of March, cameras will operate at two controlled intersections in Limassol. They will concern the intersection of Makarios III, Nikos Pattichis and Archbishop Leontios I avenues (former Fairways lights) and the intersection of Makarios Avenue and Agia Zoni Avenue (former Ariel lights). At the same time, four more mobile cameras will operate, a total of 12.
According to the plans, before the end of April, cameras will be put into operation at two more intersections in Nicosia (a total of five points). These are on Strovolos and Machairas Avenue (near the Pepsi Cola factory) and at the junction of Makarios III, Spyrou Kyprianou and Digeni Akrita Avenues (lights of the Lycabettus Police Station). Also, four more mobile cameras will operate, a total of 16. It is noted that based on the programming, each mobile camera should work a total of eight hours a day 24 hours a day. Each camera is transferred to a predetermined point indicated by the Traffic Police and operates there for two hours and then transferred to the next point.
The second and final phase of the system will start on May 1st and should be completed by the end of 2023, with the installation of another 66 fixed cameras at locations in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, the free area of Famagusta and Morphou. By the end of '23 there will be 110 cameras, 90 fixed and 20 mobile. The road safety officer of the Traffic Police pointed out to "F" that it has been observed that the mentality of the Cypriot driver is changing with the introduction of cameras in combination with a series of other measures, such as the intensification of controls, the creation of the "Z" team, etc. "Certainly the technology helps to reduce road traffic collisions and especially fatal ones", he noted, adding that "targeted driver checks are also needed to get good results."
At another point, Mr. Milis said that the record today of the cameras is quite good since out of the 500-600 complaints per day from the four cameras that operated on a pilot basis in Nicosia, we are now at 50-60 per day. It seems, he said, that drivers are more careful now and this is also seen at intersections where there are no cameras, where drivers stay behind the alt line and red violations are limited.
The Police official said efforts are being made to improve procedures so that out-of-court documents are sent to the offender driver in a timely manner, and now this process takes between one and seven months.
Brief cases at the Court of Justice
Asked about when we will see the first cases of the photo-tagging system in Court, the Traffic Police officer said that cases will soon begin to be registered for people who refused to pay their out-of-court fee.
As Mr. Milis explained, when a delinquent driver receives an out-of-court notice, he should go to the Post Office to pick it up. From the day of receipt he has 45 days to pay for it. If this does not happen, criminal proceedings will be initiated against him so that a file can be registered with the Court. Until now there have been some problems as to who would prepare the file for the Court, but this has been overcome and cases will soon begin to be brought to justice. Today, more than 40,000 of the 87,000 out-of-court cases remain unpaid, which will cause a problem for the Courts when such a large number of cases arrive for trial.
In the meantime, as of yesterday, the Traffic Police began checks on the use of seat belts and child seats. As Mr. Milis explained, the seat belt saves lives and it has been found that last year more than 45% of the drivers who lost their lives did not wear a seat belt. It is noted that this year we mourn six victims on the asphalt, as many as last year at the same time.
