Traffic police using speed guns are issuing an average of 26 fines an hour.
Inspector Sergio Pisani of the Police Traffic Section told the Times of Malta that the new equipment uses infrared laser technology to detect the speed of vehicles with pinpoint accuracy in less than a second as far as two kilometres away.
“Our aim is to reduce road incidents. We want to eradicate fatalities caused by traffic accidents and will not stop until we achieve that goal,” Mr Pisani said as his team of officers pulled over a white taxi in Luqa for exceeding the speed limit by some 20kph.
A team of officers on Sunday pulled over a constant stream of speeding cars, motorbikes, trucks and other vehicles.
“We could stop more cars, but there are only so many we can stop at one time without blocking the road completely,” Mr Pisani said.
We could stop more cars, but there are only so many we can stop at one time without blocking the road
The equipment was purchased by the police a few months ago, and officers have started using it on thoroughfares across the island, handing out fines of €35 for speeds up to 15kph over the limit and €75 for anything above that. Drivers also face having three points taken off their licence.
If a speeding motorist is clocked on the equipment and not pulled over immediately, the police had two days to send the citation to the person responsible.
The top speed recorded using the equipment so far was some 140kph, double the speed limit set on that particular road.
Mr Pisani told the Times of Malta it was not the police’s intention to catch motorists out, but to enforce road safety.
“We are not doing this to try and raise revenue through fines. Our aim is to reduce traffic accidents. And we will not stop until there are no more fatalities.”
Fourteen people have lost their lives on Maltese roads so far this year.
Mr Pisani explained how although they were not required to do so by law, the police are warning motorists whenever the speed gun is being used by placing a sign that reads ‘Police camera’ a few hundred metres down the road.
In just under an hour, the team of officers pulled over a constant stream of speeding cars, motorbikes and trucks yesterday on a main road leading to Malta International Airport.
A taxi driver was followed by a young man driving a hatchback at around 30kph over the speed limit. And another man in a luxury sports car was pulled over for speeding only for the police to discover that his road licence disk had been tampered with.
The sports car was impounded after officers discovered the owner had stuck a number eight over the previous year’s 2017.
Mr Pisani said around 2,000 cars were stopped on the roads for a variety of reasons every month, with hundreds of citations issued, and several cars impounded for a variety of illegalities.