Speed ​​cameras – Automatic speed cameras 2019: the State no longer has the right recipe … –

Posted on by admin

Automatic speed cameras 2019: the state no longer has the right recipe…

Speed ​​cameras - Automatic speed cameras 2019: the State no longer has the right recipe ... -

Bad news for the government: automatic speed camera revenues are down for the second year in a row with "only" 759.7 million euros in 2019! So much so that the Court of Auditors asks Road Safety to take into account this 12.1% decrease, partly linked to the movement of yellow vests… MNC decrypts the balance sheet of cash machines.

The heavy economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis will not be absorbed by the receipts of the radars: the 4,094 French cash machines – speed radars, red lights and level crossings included – have reported "only" 759.7 million euros in 2019, down "12.1%" according to the Court of Auditors.

  • MNC special file : All the latest automatic speed cameras
  • MNC special file :

In its "budget execution analysis note" (NEB) dedicated to the special allocation account "Traffic control and road parking", the institution recalls that this significant financial windfall was already decreasing in 2018 with 864.3 million against … 1.013 billion (!) Euros in 2017. In short: after several years of strong growth, radars are reporting less and less to the State.

This decrease is explained by several factors, starting with the massive increase in vandalism on radars during the movement of yellow vests: "the low availability of radars explains why the number of contravention notices was only 12 , 55 million, figure less than half the budget estimate ", develops this very detailed report of 51 pages !

But the fact that many cabins were damaged, burned or repainted does not explain everything: "the decrease in revenue from fines was noticeable and continued from January 2018, regardless of the damage to the radars", recalls the oldest large state bodies.

Has the all-repressive policy found its limits ?

"This finding raises the question of a possible downward trend in these revenues over the medium term, beyond the particular context created by a road safety measure not always well understood and a general social protest movement", considers the court which evokes a better respect for speeds to explain this decrease in efficiency of the radar devices.

Speed ​​cameras - Automatic speed cameras 2019: the State no longer has the right recipe ... -

The Road Safety Department is thus encouraged to study more closely its sources to better understand the origin of this drop in radar revenues. The government is therefore invited to review its copy of road safety, exclusively based on the expensive and unloved multiplication of sanctioning tools.. 

"It would be useful for the DSR to carry out a study to understand this phenomenon, which may be linked to greater respect for speed limits when the fleet of radars is operating normally, and to draw the budgetary consequences", insists the Court of Auditors which underlines that "the effects of the unprecedented vandalism undergone by the radars in 2018 and especially in 2019 should not screen out this type of medium-term reflection".

More and more unpaid fines

Two other factors are fueling the fall in revenue: the growing proportion of non-payment of fines (25.2% against 23.9% in 2018 and 22.3% in 2017) and the lack of profitability of cars containing on-board radars. Recall that these famous radar cars entrusted to private operators since 2018 offer a record so far … 

  • MNC of February 5, 2019 :  
  • MNC of February 27, 2017 : 

The Court of Auditors mentions in particular the economic consequences linked to the "delay in the measure of outsourcing the driving of radar vehicles", which began in Normandy before extending to three neighboring regions: . 

Finally, this report pinpoints the mismanagement of funds – public, let us remember! – allocated to the various branches of the Road Safety Delegation and in particular its National Agency for the automated processing of offenses (ANTAI). The latter would be a real subsidy pit with some 82 million euros allocated in 2019 !

The Court notes that the DSR has certainly made an effort since "92 million" were initially budgeted for 2019. But this allocation to ANTAI is however "increased compared to 2018, despite the agency’s particularly high cash level. ", she laments…

The automatic grant processing agency ?!

Because the availabilities of ANTAI are indeed generous: its working capital represents "more than eight months of activity" and this enormous cash flow has "practically doubled in three years"! And yet nothing is done to reduce the subsidy rate of this agency, despite the Court’s recommendations on this subject for several years….

Speed ​​cameras - Automatic speed cameras 2019: the State no longer has the right recipe ... -

This surplus situation, however, authorized a reduction in the subsidy to ANTAI, especially since the latter had fewer fines to deal with in 2019 and this situation was foreseeable: "the anticipation of the decrease in the activity of the agency was known ", insists the Court of Auditors.

The report therefore calls for stepping up "efforts to rationalize budget programming undertaken in 2016, based on revenue forecasts that take better account of the information available at the time of the vote on the initial budget law". This request comes for the second year in a row, firmly underlines this official document.

But the State has little desire to revise its budgetary policy … and even less to question the usefulness of its repressive arsenal! Radars earn less? "Let’s install more", retort the followers of the all-repressive! After all, only taxpayers are impacted by the bill and the consequences of this frantic deployment….

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *