The photolabelling system is here to stay and contribute to the improvement of road safety, Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Mr.
Mr. Karousos said that the purpose of today's meeting was to make an analysis of the system, the problems that have arisen and the statistics, but also to make some decisions on how to proceed with the implementation of the contract.
"I want to stress that to date we have a total confirmed number of 62,752 violations, of which 47,192 have either been mailed or will be mailed in the coming days (about 10,000 of the violations) and there are still 15,560 violations pending to be processed, which are facing various issues for which we have proposed some solutions so that the number can be zeroed or reduced and the violations can be mailed," he said.
He said that around the end of June, when the period of the extension of the pilot phase ends, another meeting will be held under the President of the Republic. He added that "the company will receive a warning letter of what we expect and demand that they adhere exactly to the terms of their contract so that they process all out-of-court complaints and all complaints within the time and deadlines stipulated in the contract, as well as several other outstanding issues. There will be some other meetings between the Ministries of Transport and Justice and the company to give some solutions to these pending lawsuits and by the end of the month, I hope and pray that all the problems will be resolved, because if all the problems that currently exist in the photocertification are not resolved, we are not going to proceed with the implementation of phase 1."
Referring to the 11,000 letters of summons which have been leaked to the press that they cannot be sent and have been deleted, the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works clarified that these are not about letters of summons, but recordings and the recordings include the photographs made as a test by the company with the mobile cameras before putting them into operation. "Several of the 11,000 are from the tests, there are others for ambulances, there are photographs that are not of vehicles but of bicycles, scooters, or vehicles that do not have registration numbers and therefore the complaint cannot proceed. So those 11,000 are registrations and they are not out of court," he said."
In response to a question whether there is an intention to terminate the contract with the contractor, Karousos said that "if in a contract one of the two parties does not abide by the terms of the contract, then it is terminated. But we have to say that there is significant improvement. We started from very low processing, we have now reached about 70 per cent of the bills of lading being sent out, the remaining 30 per cent of the bills of lading there are some issues that we have responded to the company on how we want them to handle it and now it is in the hands of the company to handle it and process those bills of lading." Carousos also cited the example of England and Wales, where around 1/6th of photolabelling offences are cancelled for various reasons. There is always a percentage where there is photolabelling, which cannot be dealt with if they are not processed.
Asked to say what happens in cases where vehicles do not have registration numbers, as this is also an offence, the Transport Minister noted that they are handled in the same way as any other case of vehicles without registration numbers at police checks. He noted that the difference with violations recorded by cameras is that there is no human factor at the time the violation is recorded.
Asked whether changes to the legislation are being promoted, Mr. Karousos said that there are amendments that will be promoted to the legislation on photocopying, such as sending a notification via email or mobile phone to the offender that they have been reported, which will help with information and timely payment of out-of-court fees. In addition, he said, the updating of databases is being promoted through the Ministry of State for Innovation so that the correct data on citizens is available. "Some actions are medium-term and others are long-term. The amendments to the legislation is something that will be done in the coming months, but right now we see in the contract today as it stands, any issues that have been created are being resolved. I stress this and I am sending an important message to all parties that if by the end of the month all the problems have not been resolved, we are not going to proceed to the next phase."
To a reporter's remark that problems are already being recorded in the pilot phase and to a question whether these will multiply with the increase in the number of outsiders due to the operation of more cameras, Mr. Minister reiterated that this is the purpose of the pilot phase, "to test the system, to make sure that the specifications that we have set in the tender are met and that the system works." In countries like Australia, he said, they had not counted the number of complaints that there were and were being forced to close some cameras because they could not handle the increased number of complaints. "We certainly counted fewer complaints than there were, but to me that's no excuse for the company not handling or processing violations at the appropriate time. There are indicators within the offer that we expect the company to adhere to. For our part, we have provided some solutions and responses to any issues that exist so that that number of 15,000 outliers will be significantly reduced and that number will be shipped-we believe a significant number will be shipped and that number will be significantly reduced. We are awaiting the responses from the company that has assured us that by the end of the month they will be ready and will do what they need to do."
He went on to say that "photolabelling is here to stay. It is a tool that helps to improve road safety, to reduce fatalities. According to statistics, all over the world, road collisions are reduced by at least 50% in places where there is photolabelling and within a radius of a few metres. In Cyprus, where it was tested in 2007, we had a 56% reduction in road collisions. In other words, photolabelling is effective in terms of road safety. We will do everything possible within the framework of the Convention to solve any problems that exist. There is a significant improvement, but we are not fully satisfied. For the sake of road safety, I hope that all parties will abide by the contract and the problems will be resolved so that we can move on to the next phase."
Finally, Mr. Karousos explained that the approximately 47,000 out-of-court notices that have been sent start in chronological order, i.e. from January to May.
(MKY)
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