The fixed radars installed to encourage drivers to ease off the accelerator in Torreviejahave detected hundreds of violations since they began operating on 1st September2023. This has resulted in more than 80,000 euros generated by drivers exceeding the40-kilometre speed restriction. All this despite the machines being marked with clearlyvisible signage. They even display a happy face f the limit is adhered to and a sad face ifit is not.In addition, the cameras on Avenida de la Cortes Valenciana, Gregorio Maranon andDesiderio Rodriguez have also been responsible for thirty drivers appearing before thejudge for driving at more than 120 kilometres in the 40 limit. The law establishes thatdriving at a speed of more than 60 kilometres per hour on urban roads is a crime. Thepunishment, according to the General Directorate of Traffic is stipulated in article 379.1with between three and six months in prison, a daily fine of 6 to 12 months dependingon the financial capacity of the offender and the withdrawal of the driving licence for aperiod of one to four years.Most violations incur a fine of 400 euros and the loss of four points from the drivinglicence. There are also fines of 500 euros and six penalty points and a lower penalty of300 euros and two or less points deducted.The most notable fine came in December 2023, when the same driver was fined on thesame section of Avenida Desiderio Rodríguez on three separate occasions. The finestotalled 1,200 euros with a loss of points that far exceeded the 12 that drivers in Spainare issued with.The catering, food distribution and construction industries must need speedy deliveriesjudging by the repeat fines issued to companies with headquarters in the vicinity of theavenues monitored by the radar. Tourists are also in a hurry to get around the city, withowners of the vehicles regularly fined.The choice of the locations was not a coincidence on the part of the Local Police. Formany years these have been the roads with the highest incidence of serious accidentsin the city. Several of them with fatalities, especially pedestrians and cyclists. TheCouncillor for Road Safety, Federico Alarcón, indicates that the accident figures havebeen reduced, hence the announcement of further investment in new devices forother areas of the city. Three more radar points will be added on Avenida AlfredoNobel, in Las Calas and on Avenida de Baleares in the coming months. Their initial costis 60,000 euros, an investment that has been more than repaid both in monetary termsand by the reduction of the average speed by the initial radars.The main criticism of the preventive nature of radars is that, knowing their location,drivers reduce speed and resume speed when they have passed by the equipment andthis abrupt reduction in speed also causes traffic jams.Torrevieja has several radars on the N-332 and has just installed another latestgeneration one at kilometre 7 of the CV-905 to limit the speed to 50 kilometres perhour, which will be activated in the month of September.