A new generation radar, capable of controlling 32 vehicles simultaneously, has been tested since February 7th in Marseille. 455 models will be deployed throughout the country in 2018.
Motorists in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) will play guinea pigs for a few weeks. A new generation of radar, the Mesta Fusion by the company Idémia , was put into service on the ring road of Marseille , at the interchange Florian, on Wednesday 7th February, 2018.
This is the first time that a radar of this type, called “radar turret”, is tested on French territory . But according to the website Radars-auto.com, the government plans to install 455 models in 2018 .
32 cars at the same time
This new radar makes it possible to track “the speed of 32 cars at the same time on nearly eight different lanes, with an accuracy of 1%”, ensures the brochure of the supplier , which equips already half of the fleet of fixed speed cameras in France .
“In addition to its functions of speed control and red light crossing, Mesta Fusion opens the way to several other types of controls such as: traffic on prohibited lanes, forbidden overtaking, inter-distance, low speed, the need to turn left or right, the phone while driving or not wearing a seat belt, etc.”
Only two functions … for now
This ultramodern radar has so far only been approved for two functions: speed control and red light crossing . “Equipped with a high resolution camera (36 million pixels) and powerful flashes, the Mesta Fusion also allows you to read the plates without error or doubt, and even to distinguish the types of vehicles,” continues Idémia.
VIDEO. Marseille: Un radar surpuissant et multifonction expérimenté sur la L2 https://t.co/9koL0TYOqb pic.twitter.com/jJ9498UC0w
— 20 Minutes (@20Minutes) 21 February 2018
A radar accompanied by decoys
In Marseille, five cabins were installed in both directions of the new ring road L2, but “only one will work … without it being the same from one moment to another,” reports 20 minutes . The others will be “lures”.
“This helps maintain the vigilance of drivers,” says our colleagues in France Bleu Provence Commander Valerie Dijon, chief of road safety coordination at the police headquarters of the Bouches du Rhone.
“You have to get used to the fact that there is not always a radar in the same place.”
With three to five cabins deployed by radar, the site Radars-auto.com has calculated that more than 1500 models (including a thousand thousand lures) will appear this year on the road network in France. They will eventually replace the red light cameras installed in the cities.
The Mesta Fusion radar from Idémia:
