This is a new type of speed camera that has appeared on our roads in recent years: more than 200 of them radar machines currently working in 55 departments and crossing the roads of France with the sole purpose of monitoring the smallest speeding by drivers.

For this unmarked ATM To be successful, the radar cars must circulate for the maximum amount of time each day: to make the business profitable, the government has subcontracted the operation of the radar cars to private companies, whereas they were previously operated by law enforcement officers. AND former driver of private radar cars exposes, to our colleagues from Alsacehim catastrophic working conditions.

Radar cars: difficult working conditions

Clearly very naïve, this former speed camera driver thought he could help improve road safety by contacting this private Alsatian company. You guessed it: it’s not. In fact, courses are selected based on their potential financial benefitnot their danger.

In addition to the futility of his position, he also condemns the difficult working conditions: because even if the company respects the 11-hour break between two working days, these follow each other at a frantic paceboth day and night, weekdays and weekends.

Drivers of radar cars really roam from 300 to 500 km per day, and breaks do not provide effective rest. The driver goes on to explain that he managed to avoid an accident, but accidentally “hit the curb” after several nights of driving.

Radar Cars: Vehicles in poor condition

With such a daily mileage, it is not uncommon for radar cars, which are only a few years old, to already exceed the 300,000 km mark. But they do not reflect a satisfactory condition to allow drivers to operate in complete safety.

The ex-driver really deplores the lack of maintenance and has often encountered vehicles with flat tires, lights on, low oil warning lights or even inappropriate equipment such as license plates, license plates or broken optics. What’s worse, some cars drive without registration and insurance certificate…

Private cars are also regularly targeted by other motorists, leading to abuse, threats, insults and other dangerous driving situations such as car chases. Finally, he denounces the hypocrisy of this system: drivers would be encouraged to drive below the speed limit to encourage other motorists to overtake them and speeding, the better to catch them!

Source: Alsace