An Israeli highway
An Israeli highwayIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The Israel Police are launching their new digital traffic camera project Sunday. Twelve traffic cameras will go into operation initially, and police are giving the public a month to get used to their presence.

In the initial phase of the project, eight cameras will be installed near traffic lights and four cameras will catch drivers who speed on highways considered especially dangerous.

The police are installing 28 cameras positions throughout Israel, but not all of them will have cameras inside them. The others will serve as deterrents. Presumably, cameras will be rotated between the positions, so as to keep the public guessing as to which are operational and which are dummy positions.

In the second phase of the project, six more cameras will be added, bringing the total to 18. Half of these will monitor traffic light violations, and the other half will catch speeding drivers. Ten positions will be dummies.

According to Globes, the cameras will not issue fines for their first month of operation. Instead, warnings will be sent to offenders' homes, along with letters that detail the offense a photograph documenting it.

The warnings will include a personal message signed by the head of the Israel Police Traffic Division, Brig.-Gen. Bruno Stein. "I found it proper to personally ask you to obey the traffic laws, without writing a ticket against you for the present offense. It is better to lose a moment in your life than to lose your life in a moment!" the letter will state.

The digital system will automatically issue tickets, leaving drivers very little opportunity to contest the tickets in court.

The maps below – in Hebrew – show the locations of the new traffic camera positions.