The French automated speed enforcement system was introduced in late 2003 in a particular political context, when President Jacques Chirac declared road safety a major national priority. This descriptive paper first provides an overview of the development of this system in several stages, ultimately reaching 2000 radar devices by the end of 2007. Nearly complete automation of the system permits a rapid and fair treatment of a massive number of speed offences. The second part of this paper underlines the positive results obtained in terms of reduced road deaths and injuries resulting from detection and reduction of illegal speeding behaviour. Finally, the paper highlights the centralized character of this state-based system and the specific process linking manual controls with automatic enforcement, as well as its limitations that include technological problems, civil resistance with strategic driving behaviours, destruction of the devices, and an increasing number of drivers being disqualified. (Author/publisher)
Abstract