The Island will have three fixed radars fully operational next year. In this way, Lanzarote will enter the second phase of the Fixed Radar Installation Plan launched by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).
This is one of the speed control measures with which the agency intends, first, to drastically reduce speeding. It is also about reducing the average speed of traffic on the road, reducing the number of fatalities by 10% and that a good number of agents who are now dedicated to speed control perform their work in other services.
500 devices
Between this year and 2007, a total of 500 devices will be installed on sections of roads considered dangerous with a budget of 55 million euros. In 2005, 250 radars will be placed, although so far there are only 37, while in 2006 there will be 175 together with the 200 in 2007.
This amount of radar will be added to the 300 mobile ones already existing that the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard has. This will mean that at the end of 2007 there will be a total of 800 devices for speed control on the road. The radars are installed in the signaling gantries or the margins of the roads as well as in the 'sensitive' points designated by the Provincial Traffic Headquarters and the subsectors of the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard.
Controls
While these radars arrive, Traffic maintains road controls. In them, it is about monitoring the speed of drivers and their blood alcohol levels, two of the factors with the greatest impact on accident rates. In this sense, the director of the DGT in Lanzarote, Jaime Moreno, explained that it is about following the lines marked by the agency "although no special campaign is being carried out now".
Speeding is one of the main infractions committed by drivers. In fact, this is shown by the data from the installed radars that only during the first month of operation detected that about 110,000 vehicles were traveling above the maximum allowed 120 kilometers per hour. It even came to register drivers who drove at more than 240 kilometers per hour. Thus, although Lanzarote does not yet have these devices, the data offered by the radars already installed in other places can be extrapolated to any area.
Alcohol rates
Regarding alcohol rates, Traffic also makes a special impact. Different studies show that the number of deaths in traffic accidents due to alcohol can be between 30 and 50 percent of the total. For this reason, it is about carrying out controls in those places where it is expected that drivers may have consumed alcohol, such as party areas or holiday periods such as Christmas.
