The cameras that catch the driver not wearing a seatbelt or on the phone act but do not fine

Traffic gives a margin of two months; the offenders will only be informed, but then they will start to be sanctioned with 200 Euros and three points of their driving license

Marián Martínez

12·04·17 | 09:31

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Eight special surveillance cameras that will detect whether the Asturian road drivers are wearing a seatbelt and/or using their mobile phones while driving are already working since yesterday. To these cameras we also add the one installed at the entrance of the Huerna motorway (AP-66) in La Magdalena (León). There will be no fines for two months, but from that moment the sanctions will be of 200 Euros and will also mean the deduction of 3 points of the driving license.

The new cameras look like the speed control ones, but they get seven snapshots of a vehicle. They clearly recognize license plates, even if the vehicle circulates at more than 200 kilometers per hour. The images are analysed by a computer system and if it determines that the driver was not wearing a seatbelt or was using a mobile phone while driving, a human check will be carried out prior to the imposition of the fine. The entire procedure will be implemented from the Estrada Center for Automatic Complaint Treatment that the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has in Leon.

Gregorio Serrano, general director of the DGT, said in a statement that during these first two months Traffic wouldn´t be sanctioning because it wants "to raise awareness, and it is not the intention of the DGT to collect, but to save lives." Therefore, the owners of the vehicles whose occupants are traveling not wearing a seatbelt will receive an information letter at home. But then, the sanctioning process will begin as it is with the speeding fines.

According to data provided with yesterday by the DGT in a statement, 22% of those deceased in 2015 who were traveling in private cars or vans were not using their seatbelts in long distance routes. As for urban roads, 19 of the 70 people who died were not using it either.

In the Spanish road network, 225 of these new cameras have been installed, placed in gantry signs or motorway posts. 60% of the cameras are located in conventional roads, which are the ones with the highest rate of accidents, while the remaining 40% are on motorways and dual carriageways.