Installation work on the 50 new speed radars is already underway. The aim is for them to gradually come into operation over the first three months of next year.
These new 50 radars, which will join the first network of speed control sites that were put in to place in 2016, were announced some time ago by the Ministry of Internal Administration and the National Road Safety Authority. However, the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR) justified the delay of this system going in to operation to “the delay in the supply of equipment due to the exceptional situation in the supply chains resulting from the covid-19 disease pandemic, the global energy crisis and the effects resulting from the war in Ukraine”.
Of these 50 new radars, 30 will be installed at Instantaneous Speed Control Sites (LCVI) and 20 at Medium Speed Control Sites (LCVM), with only 20% of them being placed on motorways.
According to ANSR, network of speed control sites (SINCRO) currently monitors the speed of drivers by “measuring the instantaneous speed of the vehicle, that is, its speed at the moment it passes the speed control point”.
The new radars will allow “supervision of the speed practiced by drivers by measuring the average speed of the vehicle between two predefined points on the road”.
According to ANSR, contracts for the supply and installation of new speed control radars will cost around €5.6 million.
The SINCRO network is currently made up of 62 instantaneous speed control locations installed on various roads in the national road network, equipped with 58 radars.
The speed control radars operated by ANSR were placed in places where excessive speed proved to be one of the causes for accidents, with ANSR saying its “main objective is the dissuasion of drivers from non-compliance with speed limits, fundamental to combating accidents and to save lives”.
ANSR points out that all places with radars “are always signposted, and are known to everyone so that vehicles reduce speed and consequently the risk of accidents and their severity”.
“The locations that are controlled by SINCRO radars, in addition to having a deterrent effect on non-compliance with speed limits and on accidents, have also had an effect in the reduction of accidents at local level”, emphasized ANSR. "in six years of operation, the data on the places where these radars were installed unequivocally prove their role and effect as fundamental instruments to combat road accidents" since "all indicators have dropped".
According to ANSR, when compared to the same period prior to the date of operation of this system, there were 36% fewer fatalities, 74% fewer accidents with victims, 43% fewer serious injuries and 36% fewer minor injuries.
Since this speed control radar system came into force, ANSR has registered a total of 1,562,780 infractions, with 2020 (420,609), 2021 (349,139) and 2019 (323,589) being the years with the highest number of fines.
Source https://postal.pt/
