Rabat – The Moroccan transport ministry has acquired 280 American-made intelligent radars to better monitor traffic violations.
The Ministry of Equipment, Transport, and Logistics distributed the “Trucam LTI 20/20” to the Royal Gendarmerie and national police on Thursday.
The new intelligent speed cameras are mobile and can detect speeds from a distance of up to 1.5 kilometers, record video evidence, take high resolution images, and record the make, model, and plate number of violating vehicles.
The transport ministry delivered the speed radars equally to the Royal Gendarmerie and the national police to be used on “high accident” roads.
The sophisticated cameras are multifunctional, enabling law enforcement to measure speed before and after passing the radar and also identify traffic offenses, such as not wearing seat belts, talking on the phone while driving, or blocking traffic.
Additionally, the radars detect speeding cars at night, traveling time, distance between vehicles, and can also distinguish between commercial and private vehicles, even in bad weather.
The ministry spent MAD 27 million (tax free) to acquire the 280 radars. The cameras are also expected to cost MAD 1 million per year for maintenance.
The secretary of state within the transport ministry, Mohammed Najib Boulif, said that the ministry launched the project to reduce the escalating number of road accidents and to improve drivers’ behavior.
On the National Day of Road Security on February 18, a representative of the transport ministry stated that Morocco plans to install 550 intelligent radars in addition to 140 previously installed speed cameras. The intelligent radars will be fixed on high traffic roads, in contrast to the 280 Trucams, which are mobile.
In 2018, the General Directorate of National Surveillance (DGSN) recorded 66,343 road accidents, resulting in 964 deaths, 3,748 serious injuries, and 84,048 minor injuries.
DGSN registered over 1.8 million traffic offenses and began infringement proceedings on 573,557 vehicles.
The number of traffic accidents increased by 7.5 percent in comparison to 2017, when 61,686 accidents were recorded. The number of deaths and injuries also increased in comparison to those recorded in 2017.
