Paris (AFP)
The bill of degradation of automatic speed cameras since the beginning of the movement of "yellow vests" in mid-November is estimated at 360 million euros, told AFP Friday the Road Safety, confirming information of the Parisian.
This amount includes 60 million euros spent to repair the burned, tagged or sheeted devices - nearly 1,000 were destroyed had indicated in July the Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner - and 300 million euros of loss of profits in contraventions .
"At the height of the crisis, 75% of the park was damaged," said Mr. Castaner, adding that they are replaced by "modern radars, advanced, able to see the fires not respected but also the use of phone behind the wheel ".
Several of these new generation radars, known as turret radars, have been degraded since the beginning of their deployment in the spring.
"On the hundred devices already installed, we had some degradation, unfortunately this is the lot of any new experiment, it generates an unhealthy excitement and vandalism", lamented to AFP David Julliard, deputy delegate interdepartmental to road safety.
Perched on four-meter masts, these radars can monitor up to eight lanes over a distance of 200 meters, according to the builder. The majority of them will be decoys, since on average only one cabin out of six will be active at term.
The government's goal is to have a fleet of just over 400 turret radars by the end of the year, Julliard said.
© 2019 AFP