Cyprus: Government finally launches tender to re-introduce traffic cameras

Twelve years since dismantling its national traffic camera network due to a series of technical and legal issues, Cyprus has made a call for tenders to reintroduce them.

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Minister of Transport Vassiliki Anastassiadou announced the government has launched a tender procedure with the chosen bidder tasked with installing 90 fixed and 20 mobile traffic cameras.

The Minister expressed her conviction that the process will run smoothly and that within the three-month deadline provided under the law, the state will be in the position to sign the agreement to install the system.

Anastassiadou pointed out that improving road safety would not only be achieved by installing the traffic cameras, but cultivating proper driving behaviour, awareness and culture will be also be necessary.

She said speed cameras will go live with a pilot programme in the first half of 2020, while installation of the fixed traffic cameras is expected to be completed by 2022.

The project is estimated to cost €35.2 mln for the first five years of operation.

Traffic cameras were first introduced in 2007 but technical and legal issues forced the government to switch off the system. Ever since the process has been bogged down in bureaucracy and red tape.

Police and non-governmental watchdog organisations stress the necessity of re-introducing the traffic cameras to Cyprus roads as an effective measure to prevent road-related deaths.

Some 50 people lost their lives in road accidents last year, three less than 2017. In the first six months of this year, 20 people have lost their lives on the road.

Moreover, Cyprus has one of the highest ratios in Europe for people killed while riding a motorbike or moped.

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