You may have seen articles shared across the internet, sometimes published in print, offering tips like, “how to avoid speed cameras”, but the reality is, avoiding speed cameras is the last thing you want to do, because they serve a dual purpose when it comes to road safety, one of which is to protect you. You see, even though it might be frustrating to be caught by one, speed cameras are your friends.
Before we explain the reason why we make that statement, it is important to note that speed cameras do serve as a means of enforcement, they will fine you if they catch you, they are also to serve as a deterrent. It is the latter point we will expand on shortly.
It is also true that many of the older style cameras are nothing more than empty boxes. But you will never know, because the cameras are rotated around the entire network so that all of the boxes will have a camera at some point. The same is not true of the more modern cameras, that can also check for things like mobile phone use, seatbelts, and can work in both directions. They are live at all times.
So we return to our point, expanding on the deterrent feature, because the entire network of fixed cameras is designed to serve, not for enforcement primarily, but as a deterrent, so slow vehicles down. That is why the location of fixed cameras is published on the DGT website for all to see and are signposted. Enforcement is the secondary function, only catching those who fail to heed the warning.
Why brings us back to the point, speed cameras are your friends. The fixed camera network in Spain has been built around areas which we might call “blackspots”, in other words, they are installed in areas where there has been a recorded history of incidents, usually where inappropriate speed has been a factor, some of which will be fatal, or having caused serious or life-changing injuries.
Therefore, the very presence of a speed camera is there to serve as a warning to slow down, not by slamming on your brakes, as that too is both dangerous and illegal, but controlling your speed and your driving in the entire area where the speed cameras are located.
Although they absolutely have enforcement capabilities, generally, a speed camera is a beacon at the side of the road that serves to warn you of historic incidents and potentially higher risks on the stretch of road, and so check the speed camera locations online, watch for the signs, and when you next see a speed camera, you can whisper the words, “thank you for your service” as you drive by more cautiously than you might otherwise.
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