Speed Cameras-Has anyone been prosecuted so far?

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 16:37

I am not a collector of anything like stamps, antiques etc. but I happen to have a collection of 7 tickets with regard to fixed speed cameras-those that kindly take your photos on the roads when you are supposedly over the speed limit. Lies, lies and damn lies again, who me? I never go over the limit!!



Anyway my first report goes back to 15th August 2007 and the ticket was served on me on 29th February 2008. Another six followed from time to time. They each carry 25 points. Over 100 points and you kiss goodbye to your driving licence for 3 months in the first instance. Then it doubles every time you score another 100 points, its like hitting the jackpot



My question is this: do you know of anyone who got summonses to court for non payment of these fines? Am I waiting for them in vain and false hopes? That will really be a big shame. Any information in this regard will be much appreciated.

ismet

http://www.elkocyprus.com

wanderer


Joined: 05/02/2009
Posts: 1653

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 17:31

Ismet

In the Uk there is a time limit from offence to notification if it is exceeded you are off the hook!TRNC?

It is also worth asking for a copy of the photo and calibration of the machine is it within the test limits and proved to be correct again in the UK there may be instances when a car passing has set it off and someone has cloned your registration can you be seen as the driver it may be another family or friend and as its so long since the picture that you cannot remember who was driving if they cannot be identified from the picture 20% of UK speeding fine that are contested are dismissed

On the calibration issue the law and manufacturers should state when the machine should be checked after all petrol pumps are tested so why not speed cameras

My last speeding offence was Nov 7 1977 65 in a 30 limit going down hill in a Renault 4 technically in the UK a banning offence 30 over the speed limit until last year I drove at least 30k miles pa

Good luck

Harold2555



Joined: 19/04/2008
Posts: 1139

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 17:53

Ismet Bey



You have the advantage over us visitors, once when entering I was stopped and told I would not be allowed in unless I paid an old speeding fine. I told them to get lost and said I would visit famagusta Police station and sort it out so they let me in.



I happened to know one of the border guards, an ex employee so I got allowed in but who knows what could have happened otherwise?



Harold

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 18:22

Wanderer,

I am accepted universally by lawyers and judges in TRNC as the man for a speeding trial. I am aware of all the tricks in the book, I invented some of them. Last time I was in court for speeding, after hearing a few police wittnesses the attorney filed a "nolle prosequi" and I opposed it, I wanted a proper acquittal. To cut a long story short, I took it to the constitutional court and now a demand of "nolle" by the attorney general is subject to the approval of the court. Of course I had a proper acquittal at the end.



Harold,

You are stopped at customs, coming in or going out if they were not able to serve the ticket on you. They take you to the police station and arrange for service. Once you get the ticket, its fine, you do not have to accept and pay for it but if they take out a summons and they cannot serve it on you, you will have to go through the same process again.

ismet

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 18:25

Wanderer,

I missed your point about the time limit. We do have one but its defunct. The time limit for prosecution for minor offences is 6 months but the minor offences is limited to offences that carry 3 months imprisonment or 25 Cyprus pounds, now I think 75TL. All traffic offences are over that limit.

ismet

cyprusairsoft



Joined: 22/06/2009
Posts: 2066

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 18:46

dont speed elko then its not a problem

wanderer


Joined: 05/02/2009
Posts: 1653

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 18:58

Ismet

I am always interested in how laws are applied and the checks that the police have to do

There a solicitor known as "Mr loophole" in the UK who has got many celebrates off the hook for a big fee by the mistakes that the police and the CPS have made on motoring offences such as not serving the summons within a set time limit .It appears that the TRNC have that issue sorted

The Gatso and Specs(average speed over a distance 10 or 25 miles possible M23 &M42 ) cameras rely on a white "ladder " painted on the road to measure the time elapsed for the car entering and leaving the "ladder"

How do the TRNC cameras work without this distance measure the UK usually allow +10% before a proceqution to allow for car speedometer inaccuracy does TRNC have such a policy

Thanks for the information so far much apreciated

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 20:28

RE msg 7, wanderer: (...) How do the TRNC cameras work without this distance measure the UK usually allow +10% before a proceqution to allow for car speedometer inaccuracy does TRNC have such a policy (...)

=> The TRNC speed cameras (grrrr, a fine Dutch invention by my father in law's friend Maus Gatsonides :-( ) are the newest generation. And the bad news is that an even newer generation of the speed cameras will check the next one and - wireless - will pass on information.

deecyprus4


Joined: 27/07/2008
Posts: 3452

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 20:39

Kev got a fine and it was a lot of money..cant remember how much but we paid it!..thought it best to, sometimes wish we hadn't though

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 20:58

msg. 7

Wanderer,

The latest fixed cameras measure time between two fixed points but over a very short distance. I don't know what that distance is but its certainly not based on "doppler effect" i.e. change of frequency that is proportional to speed. I do not have a name yet like Mr. Loophole but I do have a terrific reputation. At the last trial I conducted on speeding, my summing up of legal points took 15 pages and I have freely given a copy to many advocate friends. 10 years passed since that trial and you will not believe it but all the loopholes in the law are still intact, so I can use them again.

ismet

Reg55



Joined: 07/07/2008
Posts: 110

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 21:01

I paid 5 fines served on me when caught on re-entry to the Country. The oldest was at least a year old. I decided to pay up, but was acting against my instincts and would never have done so in UK for various reasons = main ones already mentioned.

What also shocked me was the blatent common practice (also since confirmed by others as so) of asking me if I had a friend who would accept some of the points or I would loose my licence. I said no and was then asked if my wife had a licence. I said only a provisional UK licence. They were very happy to use this and so some of my points are logged against this document. She has not driven in either country for 7 years (here never except on a moped).

If I had read your post at the time Elco I doubt I would have been mugged in this way. That is exactly what it feels like!!

Sideways



Joined: 21/01/2009
Posts: 529

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 22:32

Any type of meter, be it speed camera, water meter, electric meter must have a calibration certificate assigned to it. How long it's valid for in the TRNC is any ones guess, but I bet they have not been re-calibrated since they were installed.

Ask to see it before paying any fine.

Hector


Joined: 26/08/2008
Posts: 2352

Message Posted:
07/10/2009 22:36

I am anecedotaly but reliably informed that when a speed camera fine was issued for doing 50kph in a 50 limit (served on re entry ) that the limit is 'up to' 50, so no 10% leeway then.

jacktheladett


Joined: 01/07/2008
Posts: 528

Message Posted:
08/10/2009 11:02

I was notified of 2 fines, at the border, when we walked over to the greek side, they just told me to go to Girne police, we were leaving to go away the next day so I didn't bother.



At Ercan they called me into the office and made me sign a form to go to Girne police the next day and pay 1000TL fine. The police dismissed the 1000TL -wouldn't have paid it anyway as I had no postal notification - so I just paid the fines. However, the police know that the camera's are illegal because there are no markings on the road and in some places insufficient warning signs. That comes from one of their own.



The day I was there, the TC guy in front of me had 5 fines and there were 3 others all ready to pay, they must make a fortune.

Garythegeezer


Joined: 05/02/2007
Posts: 102

Message Posted:
08/10/2009 23:31

Elko: I too was stopped at the crossing point last year and basically denied entry until I signed a document (in Turkish) which after a kind TC translated for me said that I had to attend Girne police station by 11am that Day or the fine would rise to the equivelant of £1,100!! Guess where I was at 10.55am.



The funny thing was that it had taken the authorities 6 months to serve the fine and I had been backwards and forwards to the UK 3 times during that period.



It was made clear to me that I was not coming in til I agreed to pay, simple as that.

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
09/10/2009 00:26

msg. 15

Gary,

They do the same thing to the locals too. Probably they think that if you do not pay up and you are summoned to court later on it will cost you a great deal more and to be honest they are not far out. So they take a short cut and tell you that you have to pay up.

Would you believe it, when you are served with a ticket you are asked to sign on the dotted line where it says "Suçlunu imzasi" which means "The signature of the guilty person". It makes no difference whether you sign it or not but it amuses me and sometimes I lecture the police on the meanings of the "Suspect", the "Accused" and the "Guilty" i.e. you are a "suspect" when they give you a ticket, "accused" when they charge you and "guilty" when the judge says so. Quite a few policemen told me that of course I am guilty otherwise why report me? That is the level of education and that also goes to those who prepare these forms!

Its fun to be in Cyprus.

ismet

http://www.elkocyprus.com

Brinsley


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 6858

Message Posted:
09/10/2009 00:35

On a tangent, a year or so ago I was getting phone calls from the Girne Police (checked the incoming number) saying I was the driver of a car involved in accident near Karaoglamogu. I don't even own a car and hadn't been out for two days! Very efficient!



Richard

elko2



Joined: 24/07/2007
Posts: 4400

Message Posted:
09/10/2009 08:25

Richard,

Are you sure you have not driven one in your dream? Our police is so efficient that they have records of our dreams too. Silly, you thought that they dreampt it all up, didn't you? Admit it.

ismet

Brinsley


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 6858

Message Posted:
09/10/2009 08:40

Ismet



I just hope you're not a figment of my imagination and you turn up today!



Richard

wanderer


Joined: 05/02/2009
Posts: 1653

Message Posted:
12/10/2009 15:47

Ismet

IT'S HAPPENED

There is a superstition that you should not talk about something as it may happen!

I arrived back from a lovely week touring in Turkey at passport control Ercan I was asked to pop into Kyrenia police station camera offence

It appears that on 3/3/09 I went through a camera at 75 kph when the limit was 50kph

On the paperwork that it is recorded as 14:00 exactly what are the odds on that happening to the second .

I can go and see the picture in Nicosia police station .

If the time on the picture differs from the charge time is the charge valid a valid charge ?

I have 15 days from today to pay it carries a 178.5TL fine and 25 points for 15 months

I drive on my UK licence as I am not in the country for more than 90 days how do the police endorse my licence ?How many more before I start cycling

The licence endorsement can be an issue if the UK authorities are informed or they mark the paper part of the licence as it increases the cost of UK insurance

breezyboy


Joined: 14/05/2007
Posts: 1179

Message Posted:
15/10/2009 18:04

Is there any interest added to fines?

Do the number of points vary?

I was told I had a fine to pay from 24/5/09 when entering TRNC on 3/8/09.

This turned out to be 187.50TL for 78 in a 50 zone. I was also told at Girne nick that I had 30 points but he lost interest upon finding I had a UK licence.

Geoff


Joined: 25/06/2008
Posts: 1370

Message Posted:
15/10/2009 18:16

I got a ticket for YTL300. 10 clicks over the 75 click limit on the Famagusta to Nicosia highway. Fair cop, fair enough. Paid up.

lapta29


Joined: 09/10/2009
Posts: 88

Message Posted:
15/10/2009 21:07

I have 5 now some going back 2 years is there a limit on how long they can nab you ?