After a two-month suspension, Guadalajara’s revamped fotomulta (speed camera fine) system resumed operations on Thursday, June 1.
The system utilizes 38 cameras and 12 radar guns in 50 pre-determined locations throughout the metropolitan area.
In each of the locations, motorists will be given plenty of warning that they are approaching a speed camera. Notification is provided through painted signs saying “Foto” on the road surface, as well as highly visible signs erected by the side of the thoroughfare.
A significant percentage of the cameras have been installed on the city’s Periferico (beltway), the most dangerous road in the metropolitan area by a long shot. Other principal avenues where cameras are installed are Lázaro Cárdenas, Mariano Otero and López Mateos.
Motorists are now able to check their fines on the downloadable application Movapp, although as yet there is no method in place to pay speeding tickets online, as was originally promised.
The amount of the fine will stay the same as previously: 751 pesos, or 375 pesos for prompt payment. Tickets are sent to the registered addresses of car owners. Obviously, authorities are unable to use the same system for detecting foreign-plated vehicles that are speeding.
According to senior Traffic Department (Semov) officials, the number of accidents at locations where cameras are installed increased by 20 percent in the two months fines were suspended.
Traffic fines are one of the state government’s biggest cash cows, earning them last year 430 million pesos ($US23 million).
