Misjudging Acceleration After the Speed Camera on Girne Pass

After passing the speed camera on Girne Pass, driver behavior changes in a predictable way. The moment control feels complete, attention shifts away from restraint and back to traffic flow. The risk emerges when acceleration returns earlier and more decisively than the road can absorb.

Before the camera, speed is held consciously. Once it is passed, that discipline dissolves. Drivers compensate for perceived lost time by pressing the accelerator. However, the uphill gradient continues, and vehicles ahead have not yet made the same decision. Traffic at this point is not synchronized.

Timing plays a clear role. Between 08:00–09:30 and 17:00–18:30, this pattern repeats daily. Morning urgency and evening return traffic amplify the sense that the critical point is behind. The assumption forms that the road has relaxed, even though vehicle behavior has not.

A familiar local scenario occurs. The camera is passed and speed increases. The vehicle ahead maintains uphill rhythm rather than accelerating. Distance closes faster than expected. Braking follows, but the decision comes late. Contact is usually from behind and often unexpected.

This behavior is not new. Since the installation of the camera, the same reflex has repeated at this location. The road has not changed. The signage has not changed. What remains constant is the sense of relief immediately after enforcement ends.

On Girne Pass, the risk after the speed camera is not acceleration itself,

but hurrying into a traffic flow that has not yet accelerated.