Traffic authorities use different types of mechanisms to control speed on the roads. Fixed speed cameras are the most common speed measurement systems, both at specific points on the road and in sections, as we can see when we are behind the wheel. However, the most feared by drivers are mobile cinemometers, since their exact location is not known in advance and they are more difficult to detect as they are generally hidden.
Within the family of mobile speed cameras, there is a model that has recently been sparking controversy among drivers as it is a small device that is very easy to hide. This is the velolaser, a tiny portable device barely 50 centimeters high that can be placed in various locations almost imperceptibly. Its wireless control allows these devices to function autonomously for five hours, via Wi-Fi or 4G, so there is no need for a Civil Guard agent to be in the vicinity to control their use.
The characteristics of the velolaser allow agents to camouflage the devices in the guardrails of the roads, which means that in most cases they go completely unnoticed by drivers. As a general rule, they are usually placed in strategic places, such as on long straight lines, so that they are more difficult to detect, which is generating a wave of protests from motorists through social networks.
Mobile radars, however, cannot be placed anywhere on the road. The regulations establish that the Traffic authorities are obliged to publish the location of the devices, both fixed and mobile, to control the speed of vehicles. In the case of mobile radars, such as velolasers, they must disclose the kilometer points -beginning and end- of the sections where they are going to install a mobile control.
The controversy with the velolaser has originated from the proliferation of publications on social networks where it is warned that, as a general rule, the devices are placed on guardrails or traffic signs to go unnoticed. Users complain that with this way of proceeding, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) acts with a “collection effort”, since they also complain that they are located on stretches of road with dubious accident rates.
The Traffic Group of the Civil Guard, whose agents have the objective of ensuring road safety on roads under the jurisdiction of the DGT, does not agree with the opinion of drivers who reject the use of the velaser. A spokesman for the armed institute assures that these devices are approved by the National Institute of Metrology to be used in a fixed anchorage, but that instead they cannot be used in a moving car.
“Velalasers can be placed on a tripod, a magnet, a fence or a vehicle, which is what we do with this device. The conditions of the approval establish that the velaser must be anchored to a fixed point, so it cannot be operated through the hands of an agent or in a moving carâ€, says a spokesperson for the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard to Moveo channel.
With regard to the kilometer points where this type of radar is usually located, the aforementioned source from the Benemérita explains that it responds to a statistical criterion of road safety. “The choice of the place where we are going to place the control is not the result of chance. We have statistical data on road safety and it is through this data that we choose the places where we carry out mobile controls for the safety of driversâ€.
“We must not forget that inappropriate speed is a recurring and triggering factor in many traffic accidents. Unfortunately we have to make use of radars to deter drivers who do not respect speed limits, â€adds the member of the Civil Guard.
Velolasers are capable of hunting down speeding drivers who pass within 15 to 50 meters of the device. The margin of error of these radars is 5% and they have the capacity to fine 24 hours a day, since they are also effective when there is no lighting.
