The House plenum on Thursday passed a number of amendments to laws relating to traffic violations, in a bid to ease the burden of heavy fines on violators.

Under the first amendment, payment of the fine for a traffic violation is extended to 90 days. The starting date will be the date of presentation of the fine, rather than the date of issuance as was the case until now.

If a fine is not paid within the 90 days, an extra 50 per cent is added to it.

Secondly, the time period to prosecute a person not paying their fine is increased to 105 days.

Thirdly, penalty points for traffic violations will be deleted two years after they were imposed.

These were the main legislative proposals that MPs passed.

In addition, a bill co-sponsored by a number of MPs provides that countdown timers be installed at junctions monitored by traffic cameras.

In the event that authorities do not install these timers within six months of the coming into force of this law, the provisions relating to running a red light are suspended.

In their remarks on the House floor, various MPs described the traffic camera system as having devolved into a “tax collection measure” no longer serving its initial purpose.

Edek MP Marinos Sizopoulos spoke of “predatory processes” against motorists, noting that while “intolerable fines” are being imposed this has no real impact on reducing fatal road accidents.