Private speed camera cars to start operating on the French Riviera

Private radar cars will be deployed in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the coming months in a bid to reduce the number of driving fatalities, the department’s prefect has announced. 

Three unmarked cars will begin circulating major roads from September, said Laurent Hottiaux to local media Nice Matin. 

Two of the vehicles are expected to focus along the Promenade des Anglais/Voie Matthis, with a third to work in an as-yet undecided location.

“It is not about making money but protecting our fellow citizens,” said Mr Hottiaux. 

The vehicles are operated by private companies that are contracted to catch speeding drivers. 

They are usually unmarked saloons with speed cameras installed in the front and back windows that can catch speeding drivers in both directions. 

Unlike certain stationary cameras, the radars do not flash when a driver is caught speeding. 

An increasing number of departments in France are using unmarked radar cars to patrol their most dangerous roads and since the start of this summer, nine new departments have deployed them. 

Efforts to reduce deaths on Promenade

The measure is one of several being employed in Nice to stop speeding drivers along the Promenade des Anglais. 

Portable speed cameras were installed along the road in May at several locations, with another three speed cameras expected in September.

Earlier this week Mr Hottiaux also announced drivers caught driving at 100 km/h on the road – that has a typical speed limit of 50 km/h – would automatically be taken into custody. 

More than 19 fatalities have been recorded along the Promenade des Anglais since the start of 2020, many due to speeding-related accidents.

Campaigners looking to increase safety on the road have called it an ‘open-air cemetery’. 

Overall, the Alpes-Maritimes department is seeing a reduction in the number of road deaths.