Radars in Spain and Europe: safety or revenue-raising?

We are now approaching Holy Week, which means a large number of journeys across Spain and even across Europe. That is what holidays and the desire to visit other places bring. And whenever there is such a large volume of car journeys, the Traffic units of the Guardia Civil launch an awareness campaign so that we drive well and reach our destination safely. Among the actions they implement is monitoring speed through the network of speed cameras located on Spanish roads.

Spain has a road network reaching 163,273 kilometres of roads, of which 12,777 are motorways. And when it comes to speed cameras, 1,845 cameras are deployed along these roads, both fixed and mobile, in addition to section control systems. To these are added six Pegasus helicopters. Of this figure, 1,409 cameras are fixed, so they are precisely located and it is relatively easy to keep them in mind to avoid nasty surprises. But there are 409 cameras that the Guardia Civil can install at specific moments and that are used to carry out random speed checks, which are harder to keep track of.

Radars in European countries

Speed cameras are not exclusive to Spain, since across Europe (and of course in countries on other continents) they are commonplace. In fact, Italy has 7,043 cameras, while France has 3,324 devices. Below Spain, for example, we find 1,059 cameras, or Belgium with 1,034 speed control units.

The number of speed cameras in Spain represents a ratio of 0.8 cameras per 100 km, while in Italy, despite the number of units, it stands at 1.5 units per 100 km. This is due to the length of the road network in the Italian country, which reaches 452,541 kilometres of roads and 26,990 of motorways. This means that our country has a good density of speed cameras.

The presence of these devices makes sense because, unfortunately, the best way to prevent accidents is to impose penalties. However, it is known that some are placed in locations where they would not need to be, either because they have very low speed limits, or for other reasons where their presence is not explained.

Not all autonomous communities have the same number of speed cameras, since each one has its own allocation of devices. Those with the most are Catalonia, the Basque Country and Madrid, while Castile and León, Extremadura and Navarre are the regions with the fewest on their roads. Between one and another, there are stretches where a very dense concentration of speed cameras can be found, and others where they are more widely spaced. In most cases, we stress, they fulfil their deterrent function and work to prevent risks.

Maximum speed without risk of a fine

Speed cameras have a minimum speed to activate, so if you exceed it, the photo is taken. There is a margin of seven kilometres for a limit below 100 km/h, whereas if the limit is higher, it will trigger if this speed is exceeded by 7%. In other words, at a point where the maximum speed is 30 km/h, as is the case on an urban road, the camera will fine from 38 km/h, while on a stretch with a 100 km/h limit, the camera will activate from 108 km/h.

In 2015, 3,286,799 fines related to speeding were recorded in Spain, a considerable figure. In addition, there are also cameras designed to detect other offences such as not wearing a seatbelt or using mobile phones, so drivers are increasingly being forced to drive more safely, even if it takes penalties to do so.

Speed cameras on roads have a deterrent effect to improve safety It is also true that, despite the vast majority of cameras seeking to increase road safety, there are stretches where the cameras appear to be placed simply to issue fines. These are stretches with speed limits that do not seem, a priori, to match the quality of the road, while we find other stretches where there should be a check and there is none. It must be remembered that the tricks designed to prevent the camera from capturing the image that could lead to a fine are illegal and not only do they not prevent the image from being taken, but they can considerably increase the penalty.

There are devices that have the location of speed cameras registered and that are legal, because the position of the cameras is public. In that case, they are legal and can serve to remind the driver where to monitor their speed. Nor should we believe the chain messages showing cameras in the most unusual places. There is no need for them to be hidden in this way, because mobile cameras can be anywhere.

The most correct way to avoid unwanted fines for speeding is to comply with speed limits and, although it may be annoying on many occasions, to take sufficient care, if not to avoid an accident, then to avoid receiving the even more annoying letter from the DGT with an image of our car. That one really does hurt.