The approaching fall ought to pacify the undisciplined drivers in Lithuania. Intelligent engineering solutions company Fima has installed 41 new speed cameras on the country’s roads, an addition to the existing arsenal of stationary and mobile speed cameras in the fight on “road eagles”. Fima is going to set up another 60 cameras in September and October, and November will see the installation of the last 28 pieces of measuring equipment.
“The first five new cameras were put into operation in early August. To this day, we have installed another 36 new speed cameras at the spots across Lithuania where the accident rate is the highest. We will proceed with the work in fall, so those of a speeding disposition should not be looking forward to a respite. Officers will find it easier to do their job with the new licence plate recognition function available in the speed cameras,” Rokas Šlekys, Director of Fima’s Solutions Department said.
Winter is not going to give any reprieve to hooligans on the road either. The country’s roads are equipped with stationary MultaRadar S580 speed cameras, which come in special frost-resistant protective casings. Speed cameras with photography facilities simultaneously control and record the time, speed, direction and class of every passing vehicle. In case of speeding, a picture of the offending vehicle is taken. The photograph clearly shows the whole view of the vehicle and its licence plate, which is automatically entered into the violation file. These cameras have a vast global application – Finland alone has over 700 of them.
“Excess speed is the main cause of road accidents. Studies have shown that a 1 kmph drop in speed brings a 5 per cent reduction in the accident rate. This is also supported by global experience: after speed cameras had been introduced, in the UK the number of traffic accidents fell by 40 per cent, in Sweden the rate of deaths due to traffic collisions went down by 40 per cent and the number of grievous injuries on the road – by 25 per cent,” said Šlekys.
Within the framework of this project, 20 computerised workstations have been outfitted, to which exhaustive details of violations are relayed. 10 such workstations operate at the surveillance centre on Giraitės street, the other 10 – at regional police departments. Having analysed the violation, traffic police officers mail the ticket to the offender.
The integrated electronic security system that reacts to any attempt to ravage speed camera or break into the protective casing helps protect speed cameras from vandalism. The electronic system immediately transmits a signal to the public police and a unit arrives at the scene promptly.
