The increasingly important deployment of private radar cars makes French motorists cringe. Indeed, François Halary, director of the association “Automobile club du sud-ouest” expressed his dissatisfaction with our colleagues from TF1. “Everything is done to catch the little speeding ticket. It’s more to make money,” he said. Admittedly, these additional and more discreet checks than conventional radars, which are systematically indicated by signs, will certainly contribute positively to the budget of the police forces.
These cars are equipped and commissioned by private companies, which then report their earnings to the government which funds them. A strategy that would be part of the dynamics carried by the executive, according to which the number of police and law enforcement personnel in general should be increased.
In 2018, the system only existed in the form of experimentation, and this in only 20 departments. Gradually, the vehicles in question literally took over. Today, only the regions of Ile-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, Occitanie and Corsica are still spared. As for where checks take place, time has shown that they are never done inside cities, no matter how small.
The government recently published a report of all the checks carried out under this system. The document was quickly removed from the site, but Autoplus magazine was on the lookout and was able to exploit this valuable data. The observation is clear: checks are much more frequent on Thursdays and Fridays. As for the schedules, the surprise is not very big, because they correspond to the peak hours. It will therefore be necessary to be particularly vigilant between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m., as well as between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
