I just met a couple of mistakes in chrissy's post so I thought i would correct these typing errors
It was one year ago when the first automatic radar was installed in Essonne. Today, there are more than 120 in all of France.
Since that time, there have been 1.2 million noted infringements, a significant reduction of the number of people killed on the roads, a revenue from taxes of about 100 million euros, and with an average of 100 statements per day, the radars have done their job well.
Today, even if the installation rate of radars is slower than predicted, nonetheless there are more than 120 on the roads of France and approximately 80 mobile radars housed in unmarked police cars. Here are their sites, area by area. For your safety (and your wallet), please slow down
(oui utilise l'expression slow down et non raise your foot qui n'a aucun sens en anglais )
The photo is sent directly (via an ADSL connection made safe) to a computerized processing center located in Lille, which draws up and sends reports within 48 hours. However, the entire process is not fullproof. Since the photographs are, according to the ministry of the French Interior, not always checked by an operator, it is permissable that certain errors will occure.
1. Vehicle exceedes authorized speed
2. Radar detects excess speed and takes photograph automatically
3. Photo is coded and automatically sent to the national center of treatment in Lille
4. At the national center of treatment, the photo is decoded and the plate numbers are read. Also, photo indicates the speed of the car, the date/hour etc.
5. Research is conducted in the national file of registrations and the file of stolen vehicles
6. Once the vehicle is identified, a fine is published and sent out automatically by the Post office, under the control of a legal senior police officer
7. Once the owner of the vehicle receives the fine, he/she has three possibilities:
1). He can pay the fine at the fines center in Rennes, or by telephone, Internet, check, or by stamp
2. He can dispute and send a justified letter to the OMP (officer of the public ministry) after consignment of a sum equal to the amount of the fine (payment of the fine by anticipation) and because The OMP appreciates reasons, the fine is refunded or he refuses the demand alltogether and the affair is sent to the police court
3. He is not the author of the infringement and he indicates the guilty
(guilty is fine here) driver. Then, the OMP addresses the fine to the rightful person. If he, in turn, disputes the affair, it sent to the police court