Sir,
I read your recent article on the introduction of traffic speed cameras in Cyprus, and I found myself thinking, “Is this a joke?” Twenty per cent error, and then a pound per kilometre/hour over the limit? Just how do they think this will improve things? All this arrangement will achieve is to raise the de facto speed limits by twenty per cent, and then on payment of a small fee you’ll be entitled to ignore them altogether! In the UK, speed cameras have a maximum allowable margin of error of ten per cent; if I am caught speeding by a camera, I am subject, quite rightly, to a fixed penalty fine of £60, regardless of whether I am travelling one mile an hour or ten miles an hour over the speed limit, and three to six penalty points on my license, with an option to disqualify me from driving. Twelve points on my licence within a three-year period and I’m automatically disqualified. If I am caught travelling at 30 mph or more over the speed limit I am liable to instant disqualification as well as a higher fine. I also have to disclose these convictions to my insurers, with the result that my premiums will increase steeply.
If I chose to take my case to court rather than pay the fixed penalty, if found guilty I could be fined up to £1,000 for a simple speeding offence. In addition, driver, road tax, MOT and insurance records are now held centrally on a national database and can be checked on instantly, so trying to avoid higher premiums by driving uninsured or without proper documentation will only get you into even deeper water. Draconian? No; everybody knows the situation, and traffic cameras are now such a part of the British road system that most drivers accept them and accept also that they are there mainly in the interests of safety and improved driving habits, and I have to say that, though driving standards in the UK are perhaps not what they were 30 years ago, when there was far less traffic about, they are certainly much better than, say, 15 years ago.
If Cyprus is really serious about improving its driving habits, then someone will have to take a realistic look at the penalty system. I have driven extensively across Europe, and in only one country (which I will not name) have I found standards of driving, vehicle maintenance and safety as poor as in Cyprus, and nowhere where the “road-legal” rules are so blatantly ignored. A year or two back I was driving through Limassol when I was overtaken by a driver in a rusty old car with no bonnet, no windscreen or windows, only one door (a rear one), no front wings, no lights, no silencer and no number plates! Week after week The Cyprus Mail reports road deaths – is it any wonder, when the authorities seem so reluctant to do anything about it?
Graham Spencer
Solihull, UK
