Urban speed cameras, finally postponed

The 300 urban speed cameras, scattered across several cities in the country, were scheduled to start operating in March.

The government has ultimately decided to wait before deploying the first urban speed cameras. Florence Guillaume, the interministerial delegate for Road Safety, just announced this, without providing a new timetable. Officially, this decision is made for technical reasons: the testing phase will be extended to ensure that the installations will operate perfectly. Unofficially, some believe that it is primarily a strategic decision by the authorities. In a socially already very tense context, the government would prefer not to open a potentially explosive new issue.

The association 40 Million Motorists expressed its satisfaction. “In a relatively favorable road safety context for drivers – with auto accidents significantly decreasing over the past few months – and in a particularly tense social environment, the commissioning of these new highly advanced speed cameras would have been viewed very negatively by users”, declared its president Philippe Nozière. Conversely, the League Against Road Violence regrets the government’s decision and speaks of “lives unnecessarily wasted”.

Super Speed Cameras Capable of Detecting Multiple Types of Violations

In total, 300 urban speed cameras were supposed to be put into service by March 2023. Located in cities like Toulouse, Montpellier, Montbéliard, and Marseille, these installations can detect speeding, phone use while driving, running red lights, or not wearing a seatbelt. However, it is not certain that all features will be operational from the start.

The urban speed cameras have been tested since July 2021. According to RMC, the populations of the cities where they are deployed will be warned before they go into operation.

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