Almost 2,000 traffic violations in only three days

[Paphos Life]

Almost 2,000 traffic violations were recorded over a period of just three days, police said on Monday.Between Friday night and Monday morning, 1,798 violations were recorded, with many of them constituting serious offences.Of the offences, 884 related to speed, 23 drunk driving. Two tested positive for drugs. The other 889 violations were for other offences....

Read the article and chat about it below...

[mike strand2]

What point are they making, or are they now just out to catch more (& record the same)? The number of transgressions is unlikely to be very different from last week or change any day soon. Perhaps the police think that if people read this, they might just slow down a tad or leave the phone on the back seat?

[WHL]

Well done the Police, keep hitting people in the pocket, the message will hit home eventually.

[Kili01]

At present it seems as if the increase in motoring fines which was announced recently is not having the desired effect. I wonder how many motorists will actually pay their fines?
I did notice that at Paps supermarket this morning that for a change no one had parked in their 3 disabled parking slots. Hope that this continues so that disabled drivers or those having a disabled passenger will be able to use them.

Dee

[WHL]

At present it seems as if the increase in motoring fines which was announced recently is not having the desired effect. I wonder how many motorists will actually pay their fines?
I did notice that at Paps supermarket this morning that for a change no one had parked in their 3 disabled parking slots. Hope that this continues so that disabled drivers or those having a disabled passenger will be able to use them.

Dee

Why do you keep on about how many people will pay their fines?
I can tell you, as someone who has had their fair share of motoring fines, the vast majority will pay up.
The longer you don't pay the fines, they will be increased, and if you still don't pay a big hairy policeman will be knocking on your door with a summons for court , it happened to me

[Dominic]

And me. Though he didn't knock on my door. He phoned me and I met him by the main post office.

[Paulo]

I have also had several traffic violations over the years (not for a long time though) and I usually pay them quite promptly.
I was travelling through Paphos Airport, a couple of years ago, when I was stopped at passport control and taken to one side. I was informed that I had two outstanding traffic violations dating as far back as 2007, one of these I have no recollection of and the other one I thought I had paid (apparently I was given 2 penalties at the same time and had only paid one of them). In the meantime these had both been to court and accumulated a total balance of €1200!
It was made very clear to me that if I wanted to leave the country I would have to pay this in full, if not I would be arrested and taken to Paphos police station and held until I could appear in court on Monday morning (it was Saturday). As you can imagine I paid up!
My point is, if you don’t pay the fines they will catch up with you eventually and it can turn out to be very expensive.

What’s strange is I usually fly out of Larnaca several times a year and it was only when I tried to fly out of Paphos that I was stopped???

[WHL]

I have also had several traffic violations over the years (not for a long time though) and I usually pay them quite promptly.
I was travelling through Paphos Airport, a couple of years ago, when I was stopped at passport control and taken to one side. I was informed that I had two outstanding traffic violations dating as far back as 2007, one of these I have no recollection of and the other one I thought I had paid (apparently I was given 2 penalties at the same time and had only paid one of them). In the meantime these had both been to court and accumulated a total balance of €1200!
It was made very clear to me that if I wanted to leave the country I would have to pay this in full, if not I would be arrested and taken to Paphos police station and held until I could appear in court on Monday morning (it was Saturday). As you can imagine I paid up!
My point is, if you don’t pay the fines they will catch up with you eventually and it can turn out to be very expensive.

What’s strange is I usually fly out of Larnaca several times a year and it was only when I tried to fly out of Paphos that I was stopped???

Thank you for posting that, it just might change, a couple of forum members perception about fines and whether people pay up or not, in Cyprus.

[Kili01]

WHL, and Paulo, thanks for explaining how the system here works if people omit to pay their motoring fines. I've only had the odd parking ticket here and always go to pay it within a week or so... so was not aware of the way that motoring fines stack up if unpaid

But I seem to remember that when Cyprus had its first trial with the use of fixed speed cameras that was later abandoned, there was talk about a huge volume of unpaid speeding fines... does anyone else remember this?

Dee

[mike strand2]

WHL, and Paulo, thanks for explaining how the system here works if people omit to pay their motoring fines. I've only had the odd parking ticket here and always go to pay it within a week or so... so was not aware of the way that motoring fines stack up if unpaid

But I seem to remember that when Cyprus had its first trial with the use of fixed speed cameras that was later abandoned, there was talk about a huge volume of unpaid speeding fines... does anyone else remember this?

Dee

I remember an instance not long ago where a single camera was catching far too may exceeding the 50kph, that the limit was raised to 65kph!

[galexinda]

I remember an instance not long ago where a single camera was catching far too may exceeding the 50kph, that the limit was raised to 65kph!

'Protests by drivers also led the road safety council to increase the speed limit on the specific strip from 50km/h to 65km/h some months after the cameras were installed, with the cameras clocking drivers driving over 70km/h'.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/09/02/cypr ... ive-years/

[DavidatLWH]

At present it seems as if the increase in motoring fines which was announced recently is not having the desired effect. I wonder how many motorists will actually pay their fines?
I did notice that at Paps supermarket this morning that for a change no one had parked in their 3 disabled parking slots. Hope that this continues so that disabled drivers or those having a disabled passenger will be able to use them.

Dee

Why do you keep on about how many people will pay their fines?
I can tell you, as someone who has had their fair share of motoring fines, the vast majority will pay up.
The longer you don't pay the fines, they will be increased, and if you still don't pay a big hairy policeman will be knocking on your door with a summons for court , it happened to me

Not according to this, if you look at all fines:
https://cyprus-mail.com/2020/10/27/coro ... heir-fine/

[DocDoc]

They will need an army of police if they stand any chance of collecting all those fines! Possibly the President might pardon everyone who was fined for Covid offences

[Diocletian]

Whilst in Paphos today I counted over 40 people driving whilst on their phones including one Driving Instructor! Plus my journey started with some land cruiser coming out of a junction at speed as I came down the hill from Neo and then proceeding through Prodromi I can only assume it was his cousin that did the same to me there.