Since March 13, 2013 and the commissioning of the first “new generation mobile” radar, a lot has changed. Two years later, the government made the choice to gradually entrust the driving of radar cars to private companies. These private companies have become the main actors in these maneuvers which aim to fight against all types of offenses committed on French roads.
Today, nine vehicles are now involved in this battle against traffic offenses as reported by Capital. Previously, there were eight of them, but as Radars-auto reveals, a new model has recently been put into service.
Since 2013, the radar car has appeared on our roads. In addition to the countless radars already existing in France, the government has decided to set up these vehicles in order to succeed the fixed tools which generate no less than 900 million euros per year.
Radar cars are ordinary vehicles in which various devices such as cameras and radars are installed. These tools are placed at the front and at the rear at the level of the bumpers, near the license plate. These tools analyze the speed of surrounding vehicles and relate it to the current speed limits which are known through the GPS module which is positioned on the windshield. Unlike fixed speed cameras, mobile speed cameras do not flash, which is why offenders are often surprised when they open their mailboxes. Drivers of these vehicles also do not know whether or not they have flashed an offender since the system is automated.
Both dark and transparent, these cars enter traffic incognito, even if some are known to certain users of the social network Facebook. Some pages know the identity and license plate of some of these vehicles, such as radar-privé.fr or Info-radar-IDF.
These radar cars have been entrusted to private operators but not only. Police forces also have them. All types of roads are traveled, whether highways, departmental roads or national roads, 7 days a week (holidays included), day and night.
As reported in 2021 L’argus, these vehicles would bring in nearly 200,000 euros per year to the State. We are talking here about those that are privatized and this, all charges deducted. The ratio of PV per hour is necessarily more advantageous for private service providers. Per hour, 2.09 HP would be administered, compared to 0.46 for law enforcement vehicles. The revenue from vehicles in circulation would amount to nearly 10.5 million euros even if this same source confides that “this amount could rise to more than 47 million euros”.
