Speed camera ‘earns’ CHF8 million in six months
A speed camera on a motorway in canton Ticino caught more than 68,000 speeding offences between January and June, pulling in some CHF8 million ($8.2 million) for the canton’s coffers.
The camera, on the busy A2 motorway at Balerna not far from the Italian border, flashed almost 2.5 million times – around 13,600 times a day – during the first six months of the year. In 3,167 cases the offences were “moderate to serious”, the cantonal police said on Tuesday in a statement (in Italian).
The highest recorded speed caught by the camera was 199 kilometres per hour, or 123 miles per hour – double the legal limit. The driver of that vehicle was prosecuted.
Some people have complained that the camera was put there just to bring in money rather than slow down traffic.
In April a motion was passed in the cantonal parliament demanding signs be installed 200 metres before a speed camera, telling drivers that they are approaching a camera. The cantonal government now has to implement this measure.
Since last year a cantonal police websiteExternal link has shown the location of all the speed cameras in Ticino.
What do you think? Should drivers be warned that a speed camera is coming up?
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