Four out of the 20 new speed cameras are operational since this morning. These are the ones at Roche-Bois on the M2, near the Royal College of Port Louis, near Ebène and at Pellegrin on the M1. Six new mobile radars are also in operation.
All the speed cameras have been undergoing a daily self-testing and thorough verification by the authorities. The cameras can take 2 photographs of a speeding vehicle per second, and the range they can cover equates to 50 metres.All the site stations are linked through a wireless system to a back office, which is located at the Photographic Enforcement Unit in Port Louis, within the premises of the Traffic Management and Road Safety Unit.
Police officers operate the system at this unit, and are assisted by technicians. This system follows a sequential flow from the moment a speed camera flashes a speeding vehicle to the moment the violation is posted to the offender. In fact, the speed camera detects a speeding vehicle and flashes it. A photograph of the vehicle is taken and instantly transmitted to the back office through wireless technology.
The photograph is then securely received on the server of the back office in encrypted format, before being decrypted and downloaded by a tamperproof software to another server. It is then distributed to 10 workstations and processed by a specially designed tamperproof software which is operated by trained police officers.
This software identifies the registration number plate of the vehicle and matches it with the database of the National Transport Authority which is transferred on a daily basis to a dedicated computer at the Photographic Enforcement Unit. This process is ensured by the Central Information Systems Division of the Government. Particulars of the vehicle, such as the name of the owner, are obtained without human intervention.
The photographs taken cannot be deleted from the system and the information retrieved from the process is validated by the police officers for prosecution.
32 more fixed speed cameras will be installed in the black spots around the country by 2014. The authorities want to ensure road security and curb down reckless driving and speed excess, which are among the main factors contributing to road accidents, including fatal ones.About 3,500 are injured each year following road accidents according to available statistics. There were about 210,000 contraventions for last year only.
Figures show that during the year 2012, some 156 persons died as a result of road accidents against 152 in 2011, showing an increase of 2.6%. The number of casualties (fatalities and persons injured as a result of road accidents) increased by 2.3% from 3,422 in 2011 to 3,502 in 2012. Among the casualties, around 35% were riders of auto/motor cycles, 27% passengers, 18% pedestrians, 15% drivers and 5% pedal cyclists.
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