We doubt there is any political party or individual deputy unaware of the article in the constitution, preventing the passing of bills that would lead to unbudgeted state spending. It is a safeguard against the sanctioning of spending by the political parties and there have been several supreme court rulings, over the years, declaring expenditure bills not sanctioned by the executive as unconstitutional.

This, however, did not stop Akel and Elam from pretending that they could introduce countdown timers at traffic lights monitored by cameras. It was a populist measure that served no useful purpose other than to pander to people who were moaning about the €300 fine imposed when a driver was caught on camera passing the stop line when the light had turned red. The reasoning was that the countdown timers would act as a warning so that drivers would know exactly when the light would turn red.

On Monday, the supreme court issued the expected ruling on the bill, which had been referred by the president when it was approved last March. The judges unanimously ruled that the proposed changes would indeed lead to increased expenditure on new equipment and hardware as well as modifications to the software. In addition, the countdown timers would mess with executives’ plans to introduce a new ‘smart light’ system, which adapts to the flow of traffic, at 125 junctions.

As if to underline the lack of seriousness prevailing in the legislature, the countdown timers bill stipulated that if the timers were not installed within the six months of the law’s approval, the cameras would stop recording red light violations! In other words, red light violations would be permitted, as a punishment of the executive for its failure to have countdown timers installed within six months. It is astonishing that lawmaking can be so childish.

The matter was not laid to rest after the ruling of the supreme court, with Akel engaging in disgustingly crude populism, accusing the government of being exclusively concerned with collecting fines from drivers. It gave the impression that the government randomly fined drivers, when the truth is that no driver who obeys traffic rules is fined. Akel spokesman Giorgos Koukoumas came up with the following disingenuous argument:

“Instead of their concern being road safety, their concern is to suck dry citizens with the fines of €300. No awareness of the fact that thousands of people are being strangled financially, unfairly and without benefit. The government priority is the revenue and not human life.” It is a disgrace that the Akel spokesman can utter such absolute nonsense, twisting logic in the vain hope of scoring a cheap point against the government.

Even the biggest idiot recognises that a hefty fine that discourages reckless drivers from going through a red light is what ensures safer roads and protects human life. It is certainly not the scrapping of fines, which was the ultimate objective of the Akel’s populist bill, that improves road safety. It is more and higher fines, which do not financially strangle any law-abiding driver.