Traffic camera fines caught in red tape

The revived traffic camera system has suffered an early setback as no fines have yet been issued despite thousands of violations having been recorded.

The first set of traffic cameras – four fixed and four mobile – were launched on October 25 and were operating on a pilot basis until January 1, at which point fines were set to be issued.

But since the beginning of the month, when the grace period ended, the authorities have so far failed to issue a single fine – with the setbacks being blamed on administrative and procedural complications.

A tangled bureaucracy and poor communication between government departments has been billed as the one of the main factors.

Local media reported that one office may have the public’s information stored in Greek, another in English and another in a mix of both, making it difficult to confirm a person’s place of residence, for example.

Assistant deputy of the traffic department Charis Evripides said that the cameras – currently still eight in total, but set to increase to 110 – record about 800 violations a day.

Daily Phileleftheros reported that the company handling the cameras needed longer than first expected to handle the fines and the issue is expected to be resolved within the coming days.

The daily cited a source as stating that the process to issue a fine required many checks and involves numerous steps, as some fines refer to multiple violations (speeding and not wearing a seatbelt, for example) which will alter the amount of the fine and the number of points to be deducted from a person’s licence.

Evripides further stated that the mobile camera units typically record speeding violations while the fixed units also pick up passing the line at a red light, speeding, not wearing a helmet and parking on yellow lines.

The contract for the cameras includes 90 fixed units in 30 locations around the island as well as 20 mobile cameras which police will determine their location and operating hours on a daily basis.

People fined will be able to visit www.CyCameraSystem.com to see the photo of the vehicle and driver committing the offence and other information. For more information call 80008009.