Filenews 3 April 2024
The photo-labelling system will probably be completed in May with the installation of all 90 fixed cameras.
According to the contract, the photo-tagging system should have been delivered by the contractor company on March 31. However, the additions made with the change of various points extend its completion.
The pending issues at the moment concern six points (two in Nicosia and four in Limassol) for which work is being carried out or in some there is stagnation, because the approval of the Central Committee for Changes and Claims is required. In particular, because the points were recorded in the contract signed between the state and the company and now some will change, the approval of KEAA is required before the works begin.
One of the points that needs approval concerns the photo-controlled junction in Polemidia where the quadruple fatal accident occurred at dawn on New Year's Day. Also, there is another spot in Limassol where it was not in the initial calculations to install cameras. However, because the two cameras installed on Strovolos Avenue with its junction with Machaira Street do not seem to help the purpose deemed appropriate, those controlling the turn on Machairas Street will be removed and placed in Limassol.
In Limassol, cameras will be installed in two more places that were planned and their installation in the city is completed.
Cameras will be installed in two final locations in Nicosia. Test recordings of violations by the four cameras at the junction of Athalassis and Acropolis avenues have already begun. Also, two cameras were recently installed on Archangelos Avenue, one in each direction and which will only control speed.
At the same time, the changes promoted by the Ministry of Transport are running, both at a practical level and legislatively. Practically, changes are being prepared on the lights on which cameras are installed, so that the white line, the area of the pedestrian crossing, are more visible, while at the same time, traffic lights will be installed warning drivers about the time they have available to pass with greenery.
At the legislative level, amendments are being prepared so that whoever pays the €300 extrajudicial fee in 15 days, pays only 50% and also the one who chooses to pay it later has more time at his disposal. From 45 days today to 60.
In another development, the photoradar list is ready, which will include the names of those drivers who were reported by the cameras but did not receive their fines. This list, once approved through software, will be given at airports and ports as well as at the barricades so that when someone is found to travel on this list, he will be served on the spot with the extrajudicial document and allowed to depart for his destination.
At the same time, a bill will give the right to the company that manages the photo-tagging system, or to the post office, to send an sms or email notification for the existence of an extrajudicial notice.
The Ministry of Transport, according to our relevant information, promotes an information campaign in the daily press as well as on social media, in order to enlighten the public about what to watch out for at intersections and thus avoid the issuance of fines.
As for penalty points, they are not affected by the changes being promoted, although a law proposal is pending to increase them from 12 to 20 for losing one's driver's license. This is because the measure is being promoted with the School for Offending Drivers, who will have the opportunity to delete the penalty points they have been charged by attending road awareness courses.
The problems with the photo-labelling system, as we have been told, are currently twofold: the failure to deliver 147,000 extrajudicial notices and the companies whose drivers are reported but for some reason do not identify the person who committed the offence. These will be solved through legislative changes promoted by the Ministry of Transport in consultation with the Police.
