The DGT has installed a section radar in Madrid that is so controversial that even the city council has asked to increase the speed. The neighbors have solved it with stones

The DGT has installed a section radar in Madrid that is so controversial that even the city council has asked to increase the speed. The neighbors have solved it with stones

And new section radar in Madridstill in testing, has been at the center of controversy for several days. In theory the speed will be controlled in a section of just over 3 km and it will be limited to 50 km/h. It is located on the M-505, in the port of Galapagar. It is a device of the DGT.

The current government of the City Council of this Madrid municipality has requested that the speed be reviewed due to “complaints received by neighbors.” Although the residents have already taken justice into their own hands even though it has not started to fine. This is what the DGT has told us.

That the entire section is limited to 50 km/h is “nonsense”

The radar in question, according to the Galapagar City Councilis located between km 9 and km 12.3 of the M-505. this road It begins at kilometer 18 of the A-6, in Las Rozas and ends in the municipality of Valdemaqueda (Ávila). It is a conventional interurban road, but the section is part of the Municipality of Galapagar.

The DGT confirms to Motorpasión that this section device “not working: not yet operational and pending calibration”. Nor is its location definitive, they tell us. At the moment, two posts, equipped with infrared cameras and solar panels, are located at both kilometer points.

The radar of discord between legislatures. This stretch device The previous government formally requested it from the Galapagar City Council in June 2022, although the DGT was also previously requested in 2021. The reason? The high accident rate of the section despite not being marked as a concentration of accidents: “Since the request was sent in January 2021, we have acted in 13 accidents: 6 road departures, 1 overturn of a truck, 1 overturn of a car and 5 multiple collisions, all of them with injuries of varying degrees.

In this area, according to The World17,000 vehicles pass through every day, of which 4.7% are trucks and heavy vehicles. It is also a common motorcyclist route, like many other conventional twisting routes in the Madrid mountains.

The current municipal executive complains that Traffic placed this device without previously informing him. They have also requested the DGT to check the speed at which, in theory, it will be calibrated (50 km/h) “in response to the request of numerous neighbors and the complaints received.” Drivers, just in case, have begun to take their foot off the accelerator in this area.

Although the owner of this road is the Community of Madrid, the DGT has jurisdiction over roads outside of town. This new radar is one of the 180 section devices announced by Traffic in the summer of 2022, which have already begun to be placed in different parts of Spain, as confirmed by the DGT.

One of the radars is already broken. Of the two control devices already installed, one has been vandalized: it can be seen in a photo published by El Español and in this Telemadrid video. The camera is damaged, as well as other elements of the device.

Although there are neighbors who understand that a radar is going to be placed in this area due to “the horrible accidents” suffered over the years, others point out that 50 km/h is an excessively low speed. “In the curved area yes, but in the rest of the port it is nonsense”defends a neighbor who points out 70 or 80 km/h as the speed at which it should be regulated. They also consider that this limit will generate traffic jams at peak times.

Let us remember that a section radar is a fixed device and is made up of one or several cameras that are placed at the entrance and exit of the section. Instead of measuring the speed at a specific point, calculate the average speed based on the time it took a vehicle to travel said section. This assumes that the average speed is 50 km/h in this case.

Not all speeding is the same: fines and points for exceeding the limit and when it is a crime

It is not known when fines will begin. Although several media outlets indicate that the DGT plans to begin fining this section from January 2025, Traffic details that “they have not formally communicated a date” for the definitive activation of the section’s radar. The radar is already marked, but until it is included in the DGT database it will not be operational or sanctioned.

Additionally, since one of these devices will have to be replaced, it is understood that this could delay its start-up. We have asked the DGT directly how long it could be delayed and we are waiting for the response.



Source: www.motorpasion.com