At the start of 2025, new radars will come into operation in France to penalize more offenses. One of the new generation models is even capable of monitoring more than 100 vehicles at the same time!
Most motorists fear speed cameras scattered along roads and highways. And rightly so: these devices are capable of detecting speeding and taking photos of offending vehicles day and night to draw up and send tickets directly to offending drivers.
These systems are so effective that the authorities have decided to entrust them with other missions, taking advantage of technological progress in new generation models. The executive also wants new offenses to be detected automatically from next year.
Thus, several hundred new radars will be installed from the beginning of 2025 on French roads. Their particularity? Thanks to high-definition cameras and artificial intelligence, they will be able, in addition to speed, to control the wearing of seat belts, respecting safety distances, as well as the use of the telephone while driving. So many unconscious and irresponsible behaviors which endanger human lives, and in particular those of others, and which must be punished to the extent that they are increasingly widespread. It is enough to see the growing number of cars zigzagging on the roads because their driver is using a smartphone to understand that phones while driving have become a real scourge.
Several specialized companies have developed new generation radars, capable of detecting several types of traffic violations in addition to speeding. This is particularly the case of Idemia, which has developed turret-type radars capable of detecting several offenses simultaneously: seat belts not fastened, failure to respect safety distances, telephone held in the hand but also crossing traffic lights red lines, level crossings, white lines or even traffic on a reserved lane. 1,500 of these devices are currently in service to date in France – in reality, around 6,000 of these turrets are deployed in the territory, but not all of them are in service.
But one of the company’s models turns out to be even more impressive! This is the Mesta Fusion, a radar “multi-target trajectory tracking”making it possible to simultaneously monitor up to 126 vehicles moving in several lines over a hundred meters, again thanks to advanced imaging technologies and artificial intelligence. So there’s no question of escaping his sharp gaze, even in the middle of heavy traffic!
Admittedly, this multifunctional model is not yet used on French territory. And we will have to wait for several approvals so that it can come into action and develop its full potential. But this is not a science fiction project: it is perfectly functional, and it foreshadows what we may find on the roads in a few years.
In any case, let’s remember the simple obvious: the best way to escape automatic radars and their sanctions is to remain vigilant and respect the Highway Code. Of course, no one is safe from a moment of distraction and a slight excess of speed due to inattention. But radars have a small margin of tolerance to compensate for them and the legislation has become more flexible in this area. On the other hand, using a smartphone while driving is unforgivable.