Speeding foreign registered cars to be identified immediately

SPAIN
(EFE/Agencies) A new system set up by the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) will be more efficient at tracking drivers of foreign cars speeding on Spanish roads. The Sub-Director of Traffic, Federico Jiménez, says that the objective is to banish "impunity on the roads, as everyone should be equal." To start with, special radars have been placed on the roads that are under most 'speeding pressure' from foreign vehicles, the AP-7 in Castellón, en la A-7 in Murcia, on the A-31 in Alicante and the A-52 in Zamora, where between 30% and 40% of speeding is done by foreign registered cars. The static radars function much like>

the mobile Guardia Civil Traffic unit radars: a photo is taken of a speeding foreign-registered vehicle and sent immediately to the Estrada Centre in León for instant identification. At the same time a Tráfico patrol further down the road is notified, enabling it to stop the vehicle in question and offering the driver the opportunity of payment on the spot, though the fine can be appealed later. Spanish traffic law allows a foreign-registered to be immobilized or impounded until the fine is paid. (See CampoPulse item on new traffic laws.)

The system will be expanded during the rest of the year. But this is not only a Spanish problem, so the European Commission is looking into how to extend the system to the rest of Europe.