NOT FINE: More than ONE MILLION drivers wrongly penalised in Spain for radar error

Spain’s General Directorate of Traffic has been incorrectly sanctioning some drivers for speeding in Spain since 2010 it is claimed.

The AEA, European Automobile Associates, reported the incorrect fines and confirmed that in over one million cases, people have been penalised over the legally established amount.

The association also stated that the number of licence points withdrawn, in some cases, have been over the standard.

AEA stated that the miscalculations only applied to those who had carried out an offence but had been sanctioned under or over the legal amount.

The claims come after a sanctioning issue on January 22 by the Court of Contentious Administrative No. 1 of Pontevedra, which stated that ‘the speed captured by the radars and that appears superimposed in the photographs must be corrected according to the margin of error of the cinemometer’.

For fixed radars, the margin of error should be 5 per cent of the speed limit if it exceeds 100km/h, and 5km/h for speeds below 100 kilometres an hour.

For mobile radars, the margin is ‘7’; 7 per cent of the speed set on the radar if it is higher than 100km an hour, and 7 km/h if it is lower than 100 kilometres an hour.

Therefore, if a driver receives a fine they should know exactly at what speed they were caught, then identity if it was a fixed or mobile radar and calculate whether or not it is in the margin of error.