The island’s recently introduced traffic camera system has yet to yield the desired result of bringing down road deaths with 36 people having lost their lives in road accidents this year, just two less than last year.
The latest death of a British man, who was hit by a car while crossing a road in Paphos, became the second pedestrian to lose his life in just a week, pushing the total number of road deaths to 36 resulting from 34 road accidents from the beginning of the year.
In the same period last year, 38 people were killed in 37 accidents.
Police sources quoted by Phileleftheros daily argued that the speed camera network is still at a stage of ‘infancy’ stage with only eight sets cameras in operation. Four are stationed at a busy junction in the capital, while another four are used as mobile speed cameras, usually on highways.
The network was reintroduced some 14 years after a previous attempt to roll out a traffic cam system was shot down by technical and legal issues over the ownership of the platform and collection of fines.
Not yet fully operational
Police sources said they expect to see the system paying itself off once the €34 mln network is fully operational with a total of 90 fixed units in 30 locations and 20 mobile cameras.
A large number of fatal road accidents took place in Limassol, as the number of people losing their lives more than doubled, while half of the fatal accidents involved a pedestrian, a cyclist or a motorcyclist.
The number of people losing their lives on Limassol roads shot up from seven last year to 13 so far this year.
The capital on the other hand, saw a significant decrease in road deaths as they dropped from 14 last year to eight.
Six people lost their lives on Larnaca roads the same as last year, while five died in accidents in Famagusta, compared to six last year.
In 2021, a total of 45 people lost their lives in road accidents, of whom 23 were drivers or passengers of a car, while 13 were driving a motorcycle or riding a bicycle.
Cyprus has adopted the European target of a 50% reduction in road fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.
