Rob HorganNEW average speed cameras on the road north of Malaga have caught 500 vehicles each day over the summer, angering regular users.
In July 15,000 cars were snapped breaching the 80kph speed limit on the Las Pedrizas road.
Angry road users set up a Facebook page to protest, claiming that the speed limit is set low to raise funds.
A speed camera on Marbella’s golden mile has also captured a staggering number of speeders between July and August – more than 100 each day.
Malaga council’s traffic minister Trinidad Hernandez has insisted the cameras are there only to prevent accidents.
As mentioned on a much older thread previously, the government changed the law on speeding fines, resulting in speed cameras activating at a much lower threshold. Previously, there was something like a +10% threshold, and now it’s around half that level. This is a money-making scheme pure and simple. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Speed limits are speed limits, wherever they are, most drivers in Spain, of any nationality just don’t seem to obey them.
On one stretch of coast road between Torrrox and Torre del Mar that I used to use the speed limit goes from 60 – 40 – 50 – 20 – 30 – 60 – 20 – 40 over about 500 metres of road that also has huge speed humps. A police car can wait at just about any point to fine you, it’s a money making joke.
They just want your money, it is nothing to do with safety especially as motorways are by far the safest type of road.
Further west on the Las Pedrizas motorway there is a section which passes by Churriana and the airport. This is an incredible 4 lanes wide in each direction. Normally fraffic is lightt, there are very few junctions and it has virtually no corners. Here they have slapped a 100 kph limit on it!?
I agree with Mike, speed limits are just that, ” limits ” they are not to be exceeded and neither are they a minimum nor suggested speed……speed kills, Spain’s death through speeding history is atrocious, over the past 14 years I have seen driving in Spain improve 100%,,, slower, more considerate with the death toll decreasing year on year…. The points system, lower speed limits, better roads and more cameras are the main reasons for a lot of people being alive today,,,, what price a life,,, just to save a few minutes while some idiot in a Seat or a BMW wants to go at 160 kph…..and nearly driving over the top of you to get past,,,,, Tailgating,,,, get out of my road,,,, I’m in a hurry,, the next mind set that needs changed in Spain,,,,, cheers all,,, but I’m on the side of the fines,,,,,,live long and drive safe,,,,
I must admit, I have never understood the idea that fines are the way to stop accidents. If driving a bit faster than the speed limit is so dangerous why not just stop the person from driving, that might work. Most speeding fines are just a way of raising money, the Malaga road in question has had the speed limit dropped to raise money and try to push people onto an expensive (5€ to save about 6km )bit of toll road.
I have been using that stretch of motorway a lot over the last two years. I agree that some of the reduced speed limits are too low which would indicate a cash raising scheme, but there are now far fewer cars screaming by me at speeds dangerously over the old speed limit, so there has been some safety benefit.
I have been driving the A7 westwards for a good ten years now. Speed cameras do make people slow down, without doubt, but in-between the cameras, the driving is as fast as it ever was. Most of the camera positions are now known to drivers, so the speed lessens on some portions of the motorway only – this is what Speed cameras do and why they are ineffective, overall. The tailgating and cutting in and out, the driving out of lane, and driving without indication is as bad as it ever was. The motorway design is also poor; just look at all the short merges on the A7. It makes everyone drive in the fast lane and have to compete with some seriously powerful cars. The turn-offs and merges needs to be improved.
Some UK speed cameras practice “average” speed limits. Usually where workers are at risk, so if a vehicle covers a measured distance between cameras too quickly they are nicked. This generally makes idiots behave speed-wise, but probably wouldn’t improve Spanish driving styles. Could anything?
Those merges can be extremely hairy, making it impossible to get up to speed for entering.