Belt up in Spain and don’t get fined!

SPAIN’S new roadside cameras that automatically monitor the use of driver seat belts will start issuing €200 fines from today.

The first 50 cameras will come into full operation and eventually 227 will be rolled out.

The scheme has been trialled over the last two months with 331 drivers receiving an informative letter.

But from now on if drivers are caught not wearing a seatbelt they will be hit in the pocket with a fine notification in the post.

The Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) say that the images captured by the cameras are subject to a “strict quality control”.

They are sent every day to the Automated Complaints Treatment Centre, where software designed specifically for the purpose will review the photographs.

The software will discard photographs in which it detects that the driver is using a seat belt. The remaining images  are then manually reviewed.

If an offence is registered the image is sent to the corresponding Provincial Traffic Headquarters, where it is manually checked again.

The owner of the vehicle will then receive a request in the post to identify the driver that appears in the photographs.

If a passenger appears in the photograph, their face is pixelated, so that they are not identified. 

Once the driver has been identified the fine of €200 is issued and three points deducted from their licence.

If the vehicle owner does not name the person driving a penalty fine will be issued for not identifying the driver.

Sixty per cent of the cameras are located on roads with the highest accident rate, and the remaining 40 per cent on the busiest roads.