Five months after the beginning of the movement of the yellow vests, many fixed speed cameras are out of service on the Toulouse ring road. Which ones are still in operation?
The fixed speed cameras of the outlying Toulouse ring road … It has become a classic of the Pink City for a year and a half. These radars have indeed become privileged targets in the context of successive protests in recent months.
Farmers, bikers, then yellow vests
Beginning 2018, the farmers who had largely sheeted the radar park during their mobilisation in Toulouse . Then it was the bikers who had covered tarpaulins the same radars to fight against the measurement of 80 km/h on some roads in France. Since November 2017, it is the yellow vests that have targeted these radars.
More than five months after the movement that is in act 23, very many fixed radars degraded the device have obviously not been put back into operation. The prefecture of Haute-Garonne gives no more information on the subject, any more than Road Safety, the word of the State on the subject.
As a reminder, the Toulouse ring road has nine automatic speed cameras : on the outer ring, at the exits of Montaudran ( n ° 18), Blagnac / Minimes (n ° 31), Cépière (n ° 27) and Rangueil (n ° 23) ); on the inner ring road, between Cépière exits (n ° 27) and Total station, before exit 30 ( Ponts-Jumeaux ), exit 33 ( Sesquières ), exit 14 ( Croix-Daurade ) and exit 18 ( Montaudran ).
Nine radars and how much out of service?
On these nine radars, here are the radars which on the visual level, seem operational: on the internal device managed by Vinci Autoroutes, the radars before the exit 14 (Croix-Daurade) and before the exit 18 (Montaudran). On the outer ring, the one located after the exit of Montaudran (n ° 18).
All the others seem today out of use: on the outer ring, that of Rangueil (n ° 23) is covered with a paper on the part which flashes, that located before the exit towards Blagnac (n ° 31) also …
On the inner ring road, the one located between the Cépière exit and the Total station, is covered. The one located before the exit Pont-Jumeaux, on the Garonne bridge is also covered with a paper on his flash. Ditto for the one before the exit Sesquières which is covered with a paper.
The radar located on the highway, at Colomiers and towards Toulouse, has its flash covered with paint and therefore clearly not operational.
The prefecture and the state do not communicate
Do they require heavier interventions than removing paper or removing paint? The prefecture of Haute-Garonne provides no precise and individual answer for each radar of the device. On the other hand, it recalls the costs and modalities for each case of degradation:
“Regarding the cost of intervention on degraded radar equipment, it varies according to the type of equipment and the damage caused to the device. Here are the average rates and deadlines:
– Light vandalism: from the tag to the broken window (on average 500 euros all types of radars combined). One week is needed to complete the repair.
– Vandalism heavy: destroyed cabin to replace (depending on the cost of installation of the equipment). On average, one month is required to replace a device.
Here are the average costs of replacing radar equipment:
– Fixed and discriminant radar: between € 60,000 and € 80,000 (including € 30,000 to € 40,000 for the cabin) depending on the scope of the required civil engineering work.”
No schedule on their replacement
Will the speed cameras be back in service in the coming days, next weeks or months? No answer from the prefecture or the state.
According to the degradations, they would be directly replaced by the future radars “turret” : no response from the prefecture nor Road Safety.
Soon new radars
Contacted by actu.fr , the interministerial delegate for road safety Emmanuel Barbe confirmed April 2, 2019 that the destroyed devices would be replaced by the famous “turret radars “, without specifying for the moment calendar. Nevertheless, these “new generation” radars should be installed in the course of 2019:
“We had a cycle of installation of these new generation radars planned, but in front of the very large number of destructions, we had to completely review our planning of implantation. “
This device, perched on a mast four meters high, can flash up to 32 vehicles at the same time .
“It is not high to deter people who want to destroy but simply to see further,” said the interdepartmental delegate.
HS radars with “turret” radars …
Already tested in several French territories, including Marseille and the Moselle, it can scan eight lanes of traffic on a stretch of 200 meters and several vehicles simultaneously , while knowing the difference between a truck and a car.
It can also determine several types of offenses, such as non-wearing of the belt, use of the phone while driving, non-respect of safety distances …
Switching from “HS radars” to “turret” radars may well be a painful transition for some Toulouse motorists.
