The Ministry of Transport is proceeding with an important move that is estimated to reduce traffic accidents due to driving with a mobile phone or without a seat belt.
With a proposal presented today to the Road Safety Council, an amendment to the legislation is being prepared, so that the mobile cameras that monitor the highways and the urban network can record drivers who do not have their hands free on the wheel or do not wear the seat belt.
This development comes after it was found that last year we had 19 deaths due to careless or negligent driving, which is attributed to the use of mobile phones, while several drivers or passengers lost their lives because they did not wear a seat belt. This was found because in road collisions, while the driver's or passenger's seat was intact, lives were lost due to not wearing a seat belt.
With the proposal being processed by the Ministry of Transport, a modification will be made to the program of mobile cameras, so that they can constantly record the traffic on the roads. Through artificial intelligence, the camera will be activated if someone's hands are not on the steering wheel, or does not appear to be wearing a seat belt and the driver will be photographed. The photo will be processed as it is done today with the photos recorded by the cameras and if it is found that there was a violation, then an out-of-court order will be issued.
In order to achieve this evolution of the photo-labelling system, the new violations must be integrated into the operating system, which must be approved by the Parliament.
On the issue of the photo-marking system, a committee will be set up which will study and evaluate all the data of the experience to date and within March will submit to the Road Safety Council suggestions that will help monitor drivers. According to the Minister of Transport, Alexis Vafeadis, after 2-3 years of operation of this system, it is a good time to evaluate what went well and what did not go well. All these issues will be handled by this competent committee and they will come back and say this is what we can improve, this is what we can correct and these actions we can adopt.
He pointed out that one of the gaps is the detection of drivers who use mobile phones. If you remember, last year we had about 19 fatal accidents, for which the Police identify that they are due to the distraction of drivers and this refers to the use of a mobile phone, he said. "Therefore, we need to see how we can reduce all this. We cannot continue to lose people on the streets because someone decides that they should use their mobile phone as a driver. This is something that we can only handle with a photo-labelling system. It will be able to handle only this issue, not other violations," he added.
