Recently, Spain and France introduced new amendments to the traffic rules and a number of speed limits, both in cities and on highways. Plus, hundreds of new speed cameras have been commissioned – no more driving!
Spain and France have introduced speed limits, as in most European cities: in a number of settlements, zones with a limit of 30 km / h have been introduced, and in large cities the limits have been reduced from 60 to 50 km / h. In Spain, there is a concept of error in the operation of speedguns in the range from 3 to 10% of the readings (depending on the generation of the device and the speed limit in a given area). But there is no such thing as a fixed “non-penalty” excess. For example, on the highway it can really reach 10%, but in the city it is already 3-5%.
So, if the camera detects movement at a speed of 74 km / h in the 70 km / h restriction zone, this will entail an automatic uncontested fine of 100 euros. When driving in areas with a limit of 30-50 km / h, the frames are even narrower. Moreover, if several cameras are installed at one site, and each of them recorded a violation, all fines will have to be paid.
The Spanish edition of Motociclismo has a long list of new areas with limited speed, as well as an extensive list of new speed cameras that are only hit in the back. So, in Barcelona, several zones with a limitation of 30 km / h appeared – and cameras were immediately installed there. In total, as of April 23, 42 cameras are known that pose a threat to motorcycles in the capital of Catalonia.
There are no more streets in Bilbao where you can accelerate faster than 50 km / h. Since April 2021, 90% of the streets of this city are limited to 30 km / h, only through highways have retained 50 km / h.
Spain has never been a fan of speed. Since 1973, the country has had the same 130 km / h motorway limit as in most European countries.
Over the past 10 years, Spain has regularly lowered the upper speed limit on motorways and in cities. As an experiment, in the spring of 2011, a new speed limit of 110 km / h was introduced on all highways in the country. The lowering of the upper limit was motivated by purely economic measures: according to the statement of a large group of researchers, this could save up to 20% of car owners’ funds when traveling long distances. Then, the limit was returned back, but in 2012 the Government made a decision on a single lowering of the threshold to 120 km / h on toll highways and to 100 km / h on free ones.