Without counting the on-board models, France has approximately 3,800 radars on its soil. These expensive devices can record, depending on their capabilities, different traffic violations. These all follow the same automated route that the national police have detailed.
In 2022, speed cameras are everywhere: highways, red lights, level crossings, etc. They are also more varied than ever with the appearance of radar cars, to name a few. The millions of fines collected are then collected by the Rennes National Offenses Processing Center (CNT). Then follows a complex process to ensure that the various scenarios are resolved.
Centralization of procedures
From receipt of the photo to payment of the fine (or management of disputes), the offense is dealt with by the CNT. This center depends on the national agency for the automated processing of offenses (ANTAI), a public establishment itself under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior. It brings together several subsidiaries such as the Automated Center for the Recognition of Road Offenses (CACIR) and the services of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OMP). A well-oiled mechanism since it has existed since 2011.
To fully understand the workings of the system, you have to go back through the automated processing chain from the beginning. An offense is committed and recorded by one of the 3,800 radars in service. The photograph taken at time T is then encrypted and then automatically sent to Rennes. The recorded images are then read by plate recognition software.
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Several scenarios
Once the plate in hand, it must be determined whether the license plate is legible or not. In the event of recognition, the photos are sent to different files (rental, stolen vehicle, etc.) and it is then the CACIR that takes care of it. A statement from the National Police explains that “ those that cannot be read are examined by the operators of Docaposte, a subsidiary of La Poste. They manually check and enter legible plate numbers”we learn.
The speed cameras made it possible to note 12.9 million infringements in 2020, knowing that they flashed at the same time 18.5 million times. This represents about 30% of losses, due among other reasons, to the climate, to the sharpness or to the number of vehicles present in the photo. This rejection rate was 46% in 2012!
Pay or dispute
Once the violation has been formally identified, the car owner receives a notice of violation at his home. He can thus choose to pay the fine within 45 days, ” in which case the work of the CNT stops”.
Otherwise, the motorist can always dispute for various reasons: emergency mission, transport of wounded, designation of another driver, wrong speed retained… Each case is then examined by Docaposte, responsible for the technical management of all dispute letters. The number of requests per day would hover around 20,000.” If the procedure is deemed admissible, the OMP (Officer of the Public Prosecutor’s Office) processes the file or sends it to the local OMP close to the offender’s domicile. Otherwise, the request is rejected..
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