Filenews 10 July 2024
There will be no driver left who will not be denounced by the photo-labelling system, based on the rates recorded by the cameras.
Currently, there are 20 mobile and 85 fixed vehicles operating all over Cyprus and according to data from the Ministry of Transport, 1,700 drivers are reported every day.
Based on these figures, it is estimated that every year more than 600,000 drivers will be reported by cameras alone, huge numbers by Cypriot standards. Apart from the fact that many are reported two or three times with unbearable costs, on the other hand the system must also be manageable.
As mentioned in "F", it is one thing to manage about 200,000 or so out-of-court cases as they were until now per year and another more than half a million. Because the system was implemented in three phases, the complaints, despite the difficulties presented at the beginning, were manageable, except for those where the drivers deliberately did not come to collect the extrajudicial documents.
Now, however, at the pace that has begun to emerge, it is estimated that in the coming period huge problems will arise in how all these complaints will be handled. Once the system was in place, the first cameras recorded 500 complaints a day, but then the drivers complied. Now that the photo-labelling system is fully implemented, things have changed, as there are 105 cameras on the roads.
The problems that are expected to arise as well as the needs that will be created by the huge volume of complaints, have already begun to be discussed by the competent authorities, with the Traffic Police having pointed out that the system of service of extrajudicial cases must be changed and made automatic, in order to inform the offender electronically, to strengthen the management company of the system, strengthen databases with driver data, etc.
At the same time, a campaign must be relaunched to inform drivers about how to drive at traffic lights fitted with cameras, as well as how to become aware of the road.
Most complaints from the cameras concern a violation of the speed limit and are recorded by vans carrying mobile systems. This means that drivers either defy their existence and violate the speed limit altogether, or are removed and exceed the limit. As is the case with fixed cameras, where most drivers are reported for violating the red light, or for contacting the white stop line, while to a lesser extent for violating the red light.
Meanwhile, there is stagnation with the photoradar list, i.e. the list of persons who did not receive their extras from the cameras. This list will be entered on computers at airports and ports, as well as at barricades and police stations, in order to check whether the delivery of an extrajudicial document is pending for a citizen who either departs abroad, or will cross into the occupied areas, or visits a police office.
Currently, the installation of fixed cameras is pending at two locations in Limassol (one concerns the confluence in which the quadruple fatality occurred on New Year's Day). Because it is necessary to change contracts with the contractor, the changes must be approved by the Central Committee for Changes and Claims.
