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Speed cameras back after 14 years

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Fourteen years after dismantling the national traffic camera network due to technical and legal hiccups, Cyprus will be installing the first speed cameras by the end of the year.

US-based Conduent State and Local Solutions Inc. that signed a €34 mln deal on in December 2020 for speed cameras, has submitted its final plan to the country’s Electromechanical Services (EMS), which is to be approved by the end of the month.

The project will be implemented in three phases will see 90 fixed cameras installed at 30 locations to monitor red light and stop sign violations. They will also be tracking for speeding motorists, while the police will deploy a further 20 mobile units in targeted campaigns or in rural areas.

If all goes to plan, Conduent State will have six months to launch the system’s pilot phase, starting with four mobile and four fixed cameras at one location, with the rest installed in two more phases.

Authorities reportedly want to install the four fixed cameras at the busy Griva Digheni and Dimostheni Severi junction in Nicosia, sometime in October.

The next phase will see another 16 mobile and 20 fixed traffic cameras and the final phase will have the remaining 66 fixed cameras installed within a 12 month period. The programme will be completed in about two years.

The cameras will be on the lookout for speed violations, motorists not wearing a seat belt, motorcyclists not wearing helmets, the use mobile phones whilst driving, and drivers not complying with the traffic light system or passing the stop line.

When Cyprus introduced speed cameras in 12 locations, road accidents were reportedly reduced by about 54%.

As an EU member, Cyprus has adopted the European target of 50% reduction in road fatalities and 50% reduction in serious injuries within the decade 2021-2030.