Little by little, without making much noise, the DGT has been expanding its horizons. First there were speed cameras. Then came mobile controllers and the use of helicopters. And, over the years, a continuous expansion of cameras to monitor the use of seat belts or mobile phones.
And, now, for the continuous lines.
By land… and air. In Spain, there are currently a total of 3,395 devices active to control speed or any other type of violation, according to data collected by Faconauto. These data not only include the DGT controllers, it must be taken into account that the Basque Country and Catalonia have transferred powers and that the municipalities can also have their own devices.
According to the DGT itself, which collects this data on its website by compiling the position of all its radars, in Spain there are more than 1,300 points to be monitored between fixed and mobile radars. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that, regarding the latter, the DGT has empty boxes distributed throughout the national territory as an intimidating measure.
To these systems we must add the performance of Pegasus, the DGT helicopters that pursue speeding from the air. Some teams that, despite being leaders, seem to have become obsolete next to the Catalan teams in this sense.
Not just radars. In this aerial surveillance, the DGT does not only live on speed radars. The public entity has more than 200 cameras that monitor the use of seat belts and mobile phones. We are talking about teams that can sanction us with 200 euros and four points in the first case and with 200 euros and six driving license points if we use the second.
But, in addition, in recent times the DGT has introduced a new type of controllers. With cameras, the agency is able to detect if a driver skips a stop sign or skips a continuous line. Infractions, both, punishable by a fine of 200 euros as they are considered serious infractions.
Madrid as a laboratory. Of these last continuous line control cameras, the four registered by the DGT are located in Madrid. The region is the one highlighted by the DGT. All of them are located near the capital.
According to the data shown by the DGT itself, we find them in the following locations:
Camera type |
Road |
kilometer point |
Sense |
---|---|---|---|
continuous line |
A1 |
15,95 |
Decreasing |
continuous line |
A2 |
11,8 |
Decreasing |
continuous line |
A42 |
16,9 |
Decreasing |
continuous line |
A6 |
20,2 |
Decreasing |
And how do they work? The system, explained by the DGT, is simple. A camera in each lane detects at the beginning of the monitored section which cars are traveling on each side of the continuous line. Thus, they record all the license plates that pass by. At the end of the controlled section, the camera has to record the same car again.
In case the second camera does not coincide with the first, the answer is clear: the driver has jumped the solid line. That is, if it appears in the right lane (let’s say camera A) in a first step and when leaving the monitored section it is recorded by the camera in the left lane (let’s say camera B), the driver has skipped the solid line. The same happens in the opposite case.
In the event that the license plate is recorded by the same camera (A or B) at the two monitored points, the car will not have moved from its place:
Photo | Google Maps and WorldOfSoftware
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