The A3 project to deploy traffic cameras on Israel's roads is plagued by organizational failures in almost every aspect of its creation and its operations, according to a State Comptroller’s report published Wednesday.
The comptroller’s assessment, which concluded at the beginning of 2015, examined the project from its inception to its operation. So far, the state has invested NIS 100 million in A3.
The comptroller report cited a severe systemic failure in the efficient operation of the camera fleet and berated the police for ordering 40 additional cameras at a cost of NIS 4.8 million before fixing the flaws in the current system.
In terms of deterrence and enforcement efficacy, the comptroller discovered the police was forced to “unreasonably” raise the enforcement thresholds for the cameras because of the accumulation of indictments for traffic violations. The police hoped to halt the upswell in indictments without a court date.
In one example cited by the comptroller, a camera in the Tel Aviv area was set to enforce speeding above 250 kilometers per hour on a street in which the speed limit is 50 kilometers per hour. Even worse, the camera was initially installed to also document red light violations.
The comptroller’s office discovered the thresholds on 43% of the cameras were limited to serious offenses only driving double the speed limit on highways and 70 kilometers per hour over the urban speed limit. Another five (8%) were limited to offenses that require indictments 31 or more kilometers per hour over the city speed limit and 41 or more kilometers per hour on the highway.
In all, more than half the cameras did not document offenses punishable only by monetary fines.
“The traffic violations that were produced by the cameras were ineffectively handled. As such, some of the severe traffic violations documented by the cameras were simply erased out of record. Furthermore, a large number of the traffic violations that were documented were invalidated nearly a quarter of all incidents,” said the report.
The comptroller’s office dedicated a significant portion of the report to the enforcement of traffic violations. The comptroller found that thousands of indictments were erased from the books each year without being scheduled court dates because of the “inefficient distribution of court dates.”
The comptroller found 55,000 indictments for traffic violations were erased in 2012-2015 because of the statute of limitations the majority were unrelated to project A3.
The report noted the 17,160 indictments awaiting a trial date in February 2015 with some violations dating as far back as 2007.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 25, 2016
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