New French Traffic Radars to Detect Foreign License Plates, Including Moroccan

Between 3,000 and 5,000 automatic radars will be installed by mayors (a prerogative previously reserved for the State) on municipal and departmental roads in the next four to six years, which means 1,000 additional devices each year starting from 2026. Already, Ugap (the State’s central purchasing body) has launched the call for tenders that will allow the selection of one or more manufacturers of urban radars.

What about the characteristics of the new radar? It’s a multifunctional urban radar, capable of reading all license plates and capturing them in photo quality up to 250 km/h. In the presence of a trailer, if the equipment detects the infraction as the vehicle is moving away, both visible license plates (tractor and trailer) must appear in the infraction message (MIF), specifies L’argus. This equipment can also read up to 12 characters on foreign plates, as well as the country code, particularly those of the 27 EU member states, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey.

This project is in line with the decentralization law of February 21, 2022, known as the "3DS" law, which will allow local elected officials to install automatic radars on municipal and departmental roads (a prerogative previously reserved for the State). The radars being acquired will be added to the 4,750 automatic devices currently in service. With 9,750 devices, France will rise to the fourth place worldwide among the most "radarized" nations after Brazil, Russia, and Italy.