Haunting for some, saving for others, automatic radars appeared 20 years ago in France. The idea of a jackpot on which the State would sit remains quite far from reality.
20 years ago, on October 27, 2003 (this is not going to make us any younger), the Minister of the Interior at the time, a certain Nicolas Sarkozy, inaugurated the first automatic radar in France. Since then, the country has seen more than 4,000 radars of different types spring up everywhere, almost all of them to control speed on the roads.
These devices have always sparked a debate between their role in road safety and their contribution to state revenue. Compared to certain taxes, the “turnover” of automatic radars, some of which protect themselves in a more or less ingenious way, remains paltry.
Radars were initially expected to bring in billions of euros to the State each year.
At the time of their installation, the first automatic radars were hailed as tools capable of detecting speeding, issuing fines and automatically sending them to vehicle owners. But their deployment raised concerns about their main use: generating revenue for the state.
And confirmation did not take long to come. In one week, the automatic radar installed near the Pont de Neuilly, which crosses Neuilly-sur-Seine, Courbevoie and Puteaux, quickly paid off, generating 90,000 euros thanks to 1,000 vehicles flashed at 90 euros per fine.
Initial estimates suggested revenues of several billion euros per year for the French fleet. But in reality, despite their number and their specific features (controlling speed, crossing lines, not wearing a seat belt or using a telephone while driving), radars have never reached this level. extravagant.
In the end, revenues from automatic radars do not exceed one billion euros annually
Although speed cameras seem to have contributed to the reduction in road deaths, combined with other measures (ban on telephones while driving, improvement in vehicle safety), they do not bring in as much money to the State as one could imagine it.
Via the Road Safety website, the government tells us that in 2021, fines from traffic offenses brought in 1.71 billion euros to the State. When we study this figure, we see that 850 million euros came from traffic police checks (excluding paid parking, let us point out). The remaining 859 million euros therefore come from automatic speed cameras, or 50.3% of the total.
For comparison, value added tax (VAT), the state’s largest source of revenue, generated 186 billion euros in tax revenue the same year. And almost 9 euros out of 10 collected by automatic speed cameras remain allocated to the fight against road safety today. What remains, only 99 million euros, is donated to help reduce state debt. You know everything now.
Sources: Road safety, BFMTV
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