New Pegasus helicopters: how does their radar work, which roads do they fly over and how much do they cost us?

For a year now, traffic offenders have had a relentless enemy that is hard to escape. It is the Pegasus, an airborne radar mounted on a helicopter that flies over Spain’s roads in search of drivers who break traffic rules, and who now find it much harder to avoid being located and fined.

But what do we really know about the Pegasus? Are you sure you know which areas it flies over, the type of roads its work focuses on and, above all, the cost of each of the Pegasus units that fly over our country? We are going to try to clear up those doubts.

The Pegasus radar consists of two high-precision cameras and software that processes the images and converts them into the data needed to take the measurements. The first camera captures a panoramic image of the road and detects vehicles that may be exceeding the maximum speed. The second camera is able to provide more detail, capturing the licence plate number and thus identifying the specific car so that a fine can be issued.

The system was developed by the Canadian company Wescam and a team of Spanish designers, and it is optimised to operate at around 300 metres of altitude above the road. The maximum distance for taking effective measurements is one kilometre between the helicopter and the car. When it locates a vehicle that may be committing an offence, it takes three speed measurements.

These, as with fixed radars, have a margin of error of 4%. To put that in perspective, the error rises to 7% in the case of mobile radars, but the Pegasus maintains a reduced and fairly reliable figure. In addition to speed, the efficient detail camera can capture an image of the driver, showing whether they are paying attention to the road or, for example, talking on the phone. At least, that is what the DGT tells us.

The Pegasus usually flies over secondary roads, where many of the fatal accidents on the State Road Network occur. On two-way roads 78% of accidents are recorded, which is why the Pegasus has been assigned to them.

This radar costs about the same as fixed radars, although no exact figures have been given. It is estimated to cost between 60,000 and 170,000 euros per unit, and the only one that operated last year was mounted on a Eurocopter EC-135. It logged 428 flight hours in 2013 and tracked 8,500 vehicles.

Of these, 1,441 drivers were fined for travelling on average 30 km/h above the speed limit of the road. These offences led to the loss of 1,280 points from the driving licences of those penalised, in addition to the payment of the fines.

This year up to five more units will go into service, meaning six helicopters equipped with Pegasus, which will increase control over these roads. But is the use of these aerial speed control systems economically profitable?

Taking into account the cost of each radar, which we have already seen could be between 60,000 and 170,000 euros, it must be borne in mind that each helicopter can only fly for about two hours on a full tank on average. Each flight hour can cost around 1,500 euros, including fuel and crew.

Is that too high a cost for monitoring the cars travelling on Spanish roads? It could be, but the results obtained suggest that it may be self-financing, however unpleasant it may be for drivers who fall under its cameras committing an offence.

If it manages to save the life of a driver, by making them moderate their speed and take extra precautions when driving, it may well be worth having them flying over our heads. But, as always happens with the issue of radars and speed control on the road, the line separating what is useful from what is merely a revenue-raising measure is very thin and delicate.

Source | DGT – In-house production