Only 3,428 of the 68,173 traffic camera offences recorded for rental cars in Cyprus have been paid, and in 41,114 cases the driver has not been identified, according to figures Transport Minister Evanthia Tsolaki submitted to parliament.
The figures show that a driver was named in 8,501 cases and not named in 15,118, while 12 cases went to court.
Tsolaki gave the figures in reply to a question from Democratic Rally (DISY) parliament member Prodromos Alambritis on how effective the traffic camera system is with rental cars, which used to carry Z plates.
The minister said the data had to be specially processed to produce the figures, because rental car plates no longer carry the letter Z. Rental vehicles are now registered together with company vehicles, as vehicles belonging to legal entities, so it is difficult to get a complete and reliable picture of rental cars alone from the system, she said.
Tsolaki did not answer how much in fines has been collected so far or how much remains uncollected because drivers could not be identified or fines could not be recovered, referring that question to the police, which holds the payment data. She explained that the amount of a fine can only be calculated correctly once the driver has been named or identified, because it depends on the person who committed the offence and on any extra charges the police may add.
She did, however, provide an estimate. Fines actually issued account for 1,060,295 euros. For cases where no driver has been named, the minimum fine for each type of offence comes to 6,361,472 euros, without any extra police charges. No fine is issued in cases referred to court, where the amount is set by the judge.
The total of 7,421,767 euros is the sum of the fines issued and the minimum calculated for cases still without a named driver, not the amount collected, the minister said. Working out how much has actually been collected, and how much remains outstanding, requires payment data and the final status of each fine, which are not held in the traffic camera system, she added.
Of the offences recorded by fixed and mobile cameras, 33 per cent were in Limassol, 24 per cent in Paphos, 22 per cent in Larnaca and 17 per cent in Nicosia. The free part of Famagusta district accounted for 4 per cent, reflecting the fact that there are no fixed cameras there.
