Step closer for speed cameras

The first four mobile speed cameras out of a total of 120, including fixed ones, have recently arrived in Cyprus and are ready to be installed, as part of a project that will see them all operational on the streets of Cyprus within two years.

Of the 120 cameras, worth over €34m, 100 are fixed cameras to be installed at 30 locations and 20 are mobile cameras.

Last September, the national road safety council approved a new safety plan and set the goal to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries in Cyprus by 50 per cent by 2030.

The plan consists of 158 specific actions including, among others, the introduction of a photo-enforcement system to better identify motorists violating rules and the improvement of the lighting system in urban centres, where most accidents take place.

On Monday, dedicated operators who will be responsible for handling and operating the new cameras began their training, according to Traffic police chief Haris Evripidou.

“Throughout last week, experts specialised in operating mobile cameras arrived in the island from the US, Germany and the UK and started their training programme for the contractors hired by the Traffic police to handle the cameras,” he told Phileleftheros.

Evripidou said that, once the mobile cameras are up and running, the contractors will be given a daily schedule by the Traffic police on where they will be located on the day.

He added that road signs indicating the presence of mobile cameras will also be placed on the streets.

“The cameras will become operational in September, when the first motorists’ violations will be recorded. However, they will not be fined until October, when the next phase of the programme will officially start, after a major awareness campaign that we will carry out throughout the summer,” Evripidou said.

Moreover, the Traffic police chief also said that the four new fixed cameras will become operational on Nicosia’s Grivas Dighenis and Demosthenis Severis, two of the capital’s busiest streets, in the next few weeks.