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New speed cameras labelled ‘tronçons’ are being tested by the French transport ministry, and could start to be deployed from late 2010. 

The ministry has not revealed exactly when the new equipment will roll-out, or whether the cameras will be used to issue fixed penalties or just to display the details of those cars using excessive speed, such as the pilot system used on the A10 north of Orleans.

The new cameras, which have been developed and tested by the technical study centre (CETE) in the south of France, will detect the average speed of vehicles between two points.  Similar methods are already in use in the UK, Germany, Italy and Norway.

Officials believe that the new system could be less dangerous than the current fixed cameras, where speeding motorists brake heavily on the approach to avoid being caught, and then speed up again once out of sight.

Some 4,262 people were killed on the roads of France in 2009 (according to provisional figures), and whilst this was 0.3% down on 2008, the government has an ambitious target to reduce road deaths to under 3,000 people per year by 2012.

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