The first few days since the installation of new traffic cameras in the greater Athens-Piraeus area has witnessed more than 10,000 red light violations alone, according to a relevant digital governance minister on Tuesday, who spoke on the state broadcaster’s news radio station.

The figure is eyebrow-raising given the fact that only a few dozen of the high-resolution cameras have been installed, and not the entire number foreseen. A pilot program that was simultaneously installed fields eight cameras operating with an AI system.

The initiative aims to install such cameras around the country.

Installing, managing and maintaining a comprehensive traffic surveillance system in the Greek capital has been a fleeting prospect over the past decades, with only the period just before and during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens witnessing a deployment of roadside cameras – and then as part of a security network and not to clamp down on moving violations.
According to minister Dimitris Papastergiou, the Attica prefecture regional authority is planning to install 388 cameras at busy intersections. Violating red lights is deemed as one of the biggest causes of serious and fatal traffic accidents in the AI-assisted cameras, among others, detect drivers holding objects in their hands, which if the latter are mobile phones constitutes a traffic violation.

Papastergiou clarified that the cameras cannot, independently, impose fines.

“No technology, no matter how smart it is, can confirm a violation. The violation is confirmed by a police officer. In other words, these photos are uploaded to a shared platform, where a police officer confirms that this is a violation, which will be sent to us on our mobile phones.”