Filenews 13 September 2023
Traffic police cameras reported 247,747 during the almost 21 months of operation of the photo-labelling system, with the majority of violations concerning the speed limit.
At the same time, the issue of reducing extrajudicial and especially those related to the fine of 300 euros will be discussed tomorrow in the Transport Committee of the Parliament, with the Traffic Police leaving open the issue of review, but without taking a position in favour of changing the legislation.
According to data provided yesterday by the assistant director of the Traffic Department at the Police Headquarters and coordinator for the issue of phototagging, Haris Evripidou, out of the 247,000 complaints, 178,000 concern out-of-court cases, while the rest concern letters to companies for the indication of drivers or in cases where they will be taken directly to court due to the seriousness of the violation.
Of the 178,000 out-of-court cases, 91,000 have been paid, 12,000 remain unpaid, while the problem focuses on the thousands of out-of-court cases that remain undelivered to offenders because they refuse to receive them.
According to Mr. Evripidou, the cameras have recorded 143,000 violations of the speed limit, another 22,000 concern the violation of the white line and 13,000 the red light, whether it concerns the bow for turning right or for a straight course.
The assistant director of traffic police defended the photo-tagging system, saying that it has yielded positive results and this is evidenced by the 40% reduction recorded this year in fatal road collisions. As he mentioned to "F", last year we had 38 dead and this year 18, so 12 deaths are recorded, a fact that he attributed to the cameras, mainly, since the decrease is observed since 2022 when they started operating, without ignoring the other measures taken on the roads.
He said that recently the points where the mobile cameras are set up were revised after they were first inspected by traffic police officers. The criterion for deciding where to park vans with mobile cameras is the frequency of accidents, the danger of the road and the development of high speeds.
Regarding the criticism that many drivers are trapped and denounced in their attempt to turn right into lights controlled by cameras, Mr. Evripidou said that the green arrow from the moment it goes off gives another 3" time to drivers who have crossed the white line to move, without being reported.
The Traffic Police officer also answered the question why there are no timers on the traffic lights regarding the operation of the arc on the right, stating that these are not used in modern states and that they are not synchronized with the photo-labelling system.
The Minister of Transport, Alexis Vafeadis, who also opened the discussion on reducing the extrajudicial fees of 300 euros for violation of the red law, said that we filled people with phobias and anxiety, when they pass through lights with cameras that they will be reported and reiterated that the issue can be examined and if it is judged that there are margins, then for some violations the fine should be reduced.
