Cyprus Mail 21 March 2025 - by Tom Cleaver
Cypriot MPs “did not listen to the experts” over the matter of smart lights and countdown timers, Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades said on Friday.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, he lamented the amendment to laws relating to traffic violations passed by parliament last week which will require countdown timers to be installed at junctions monitored by traffic cameras.
“When this was being discussed in the committee, we put our positions to it and experts also informed them of their positions. The MPs did not listen to the experts and in the end came to a different conclusion than the experts,” he said.
Asked about what the experts’ position was, he said that when countdown timers were installed at traffic lights in Poland, the number of deadly traffic accidents actually increased.
He also said that countdown timers may not be compatible with the existing smart traffic lights.
“The smart lights monitor the traffic situation and can go from turning green in 19 seconds to turning green in zero seconds immediately. If there was a visible timer, it would therefore flash from 19 to zero immediately, and this would obviously confuse drivers,” he said.
He added that a system combining smart traffic lights with a countdown timer “does not exist anywhere in the world”.
Now, he said, the amendments are at President Nikos Christodoulides’ disposal and he will decide whether to sign them into law or send them back to parliament, and that “we have informed the president on our positions” on the matter.
He was keen to stress that the rate of violations at camera-monitored intersections has fallen to a tenth of the level it was at last May, and that this is proof that “the system is being accepted by drivers”.
“We are seeing an upgrading of our driving culture,” he added, while adding that there is still “a long way to go”.
“We are still a way away from our goal, and we still have far too many deadly crashes in this country. In recent years, we have seen a consistent downward trend of the number of such crashes, but we want that number to fall to 20 per year in five years’ time. Last year we had 40, so there is work to do,” he said.
Additionally, he did express approval for the bill which will extend the deadline for the payment of traffic fines from 30 days to 90 days.
MPs had argued that the previous deadline was excessively strict, especially given the financial realities many people face, adding that most people receive their salaries or benefits on a monthly basis, making it difficult to meet the 30-day deadline without incurring penalties.
