Nightmare in the cabin! Private radar cars, already in service in eight of the thirteen French regions, are being deployed in the south-east of France, until now kept away from this system.
Private radar cars operate in eight of the thirteen French regions. They are being deployed in the south-east of France, which has so far been “spared”.
These vehicles, managed by private companies since 2018, are capable of detecting speeding without the knowledge of motorists, without “flash” using infrared technology, invisible to the naked eye. And this, whether they cross them in the absence of a central separator, or whether they double them.
More than 12 million checks in 2023
The fleet of these cars will therefore gradually increase from this spring until 2026, by 126 vehicles. The report on the checks carried out during the year 2023 published on the radar-privé.fr site managed by Nicolas Lourdin who works to list and identify them, shows 12,666,427 checks for 1,249,789 excesses. speed in the 55 departments making up the eight regions covered. That’s an offense rate of 9.87%.
A fleet of vehicles that makes you cough
Things will therefore get tougher for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Occitanie and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions which will welcome an unmarked fleet, owned by the Ministry of the Interior, not without creating some turmoil.
Associations, such as the Drivers’ Defense League, have long expressed their opposition, judging them “traps”. Road security guards may be tempted to slow down “in order to encourage others to overtake them, which is prohibited”, describes Alexandre Legendre of the LDC, who established a comparison between private and public.
Where does the money from traffic offenses go?
In its 2024 report on road traffic and parking control, the Court of Auditors notes that the special allocation account (CAS) does not receive all of the revenue from traffic fines. So, in 2023, “only 85% of revenue from fines is allocated to the CAS, i.e. €1,640 million out of €1,931 million. Of this amount, only 62% of expenditure is allocated to actions linked to road safety.”
“A complex architecture”
-CAS road safety expenditure therefore does not represent “only 53% of revenue from traffic fines”. The Court points to a “complex architecture of the CAS” which no longer meets the objectives which justified its creation. The budgetary documents do not allow it to trace in a legible and detailed manner the use of credits from fines. The Court recommends the abolition of the CAS and a clear presentation, separating road safety expenditure from revenue from traffic fines.
“Driven by law enforcement, each radar car circulates on average 1 hour 12 minutes per day and generates 0.46 reports per hour. Driven by a private driver, the same vehicle circulates 5 hours 30 minutes per day and generates 2 .09 reports per hour Based on operation 7 days a week, the first will give rise to 200 fines per year, the second to nearly 4,200. she calculates. Trial of intent, because the fruit of the harvest will not benefit the driver, who is not paid for the fine? No, because the State is the winner.
A device to relieve law enforcement
The association which denounces a “scandalous profit”, provides proof of this. “As of January 1, 2023, there were 223 private vehicles in France. Out of €305,000 in turnover, each car generates a profit of €262,400. We can therefore estimate the 2023 profit at more than €58 million! Ultimately , the outlook for net profit for the State is €94 million.
In 2015, the Interministerial Committee for Road Safety (CISR) justified this move to the private sector, “to free up working time for law enforcement.” Speed appears in one in three fatal accidents, “but do we talk about alcohol and drugs?” annoys Alexandra Legendre.
“Pure copage”
“Road safety is a competence of the police who can intervene on offenses, which cannot be done by these drivers whose mission is limited to driving. It is pure policing. The pedagogy disappears in favor of the profitability!” In terms of “paradoxes”the league points the broadcast “useless of more than 15 tonnes of CO2 per year (Ford Focus base traveling 140,000 km per year). The 126 vehicles will release nearly 1,800 tonnes of CO2 each year.”
A symbolically too heavy toll”when the government continues a merciless hunt for CO2 with, in its sights, on the front line, the motorist”.
