Preparing for the Easter holidays? Here are all the DGT radars, province by province

It is almost a matter of hours before some Spaniards start their Easter holidays 2023. Most will do so between April 6 and 9, a period in which a significant increase in road movements is expected. As usual, Traffic will pay special attention to avoiding speeding, for which all DGT radars will be in operation.

Knowing the exact location of the fixed speed cameras, the section in which the mobile speed cameras operate and between which kilometer points the speed cameras control the speed is completely legal. So much so that it is the DGT itself that publishes and regularly updates the list with all the speed cameras that it has deployed on the national road network.

5 tricks to avoid being fined at Easter

All DGT radars, province by province

It is with the data provided by Tráfico that we have compiled how many radars each Spanish province has and where they are.

• Albacete
• Alicante
• Almeria
• Asturias
• Avila
• badajoz
• Balearics
• Burgos
• caceres
• Cadiz
• Cantabria
• Castellon
• Catalonia

• Real city

• Cordova
• A Coruña
• Basin
• Grenade
• Guadalajara
• Huelva
• Huesca
• Jaen
• Lion
• lugo
• Madrid
• Malaga
• Murcia
• Navarre
• Ourense
• Basque Country
• Palencia
• the palms
• pontevedra
• The Rioja
• Salamanca
• Santa Cruz of Tenerife
• segovia
• Seville
• Soria
• Teruel
• Toledo
• Valencia
• Valladolid
• Zamora
• Saragossa

Fixed, mobile and section speed cameras

The DGT has three types of radar in operation. In the tables that appear in each of the previous links we specify what kind of radar it is. Now let’s see the differences:

• Fixed speed cameras are the most numerous (the latest count from the DGT speaks of more than 1,400). They are normally installed on gantries (next to variable information signs) or on the side of the track. Traffic has the obligation to warn of its location a few meters before using blue panels; but be careful, on the roads there are empty boxes that, as the general director of Traffic, Pere Navarro, has once indicated, are almost as effective in dissuading drivers as the real ones

• Mobile radars, as their name indicates, do not have a fixed location, so the kilometer points that appear in the list are the sections in which there is a greater probability of finding them. They are placed in the vehicles of the Traffic Civil Guard, especially in the camouflaged ones; but they can also be found on the sides of the road (supported on tripods or on the guardrail). The Pegasus that equip some DGT helicopters are part of the list of mobile radars
• The section radars were for a time the great bet of Pere Navarro. Unlike the fixed ones and the mobile ones, they do not control the speed at which the vehicles circulate through a certain point, but rather they do so in two. To do this, a surveillance camera is installed at the beginning of the limited section and another at the end; each one registers the license plate number of the vehicles in circulation and together they calculate how long each one has taken to cover the stretch. If the time is less than estimated, it means that there has been speeding

Cascade radars, anti-braking…

We clarify, in case you miss them in the review, that cascading radars or anti-braking radars are not a type of radar, but a special use made of the previous ones. The goal is to ensure that savvy drivers using radar detectors (yes, they’re legal) don’t brake just before the kinemometer and go back to over-acceleration afterwards.

To do this, for some time now, the Traffic agents of the Civil Guard have used fixed and mobile radars in a combined way. What they do is place a mobile a few kilometers before (in this case they are known as anti-braking) or after (cascade) the fixed radar.

They are not radars either, although the surveillance cameras that the DGT has deployed along the roads to monitor the state of traffic are sometimes given this name. Although they can lead to fines for not wearing a seat belt, for example. In this link you can check its location.

They are not all that they are…

It is also important to clarify that, although more than 2,000 radars seems like a high number, in reality there are many more that you can find on highways and urban roads.

The DGT deploys its cinemometers on dual carriageways, motorways and secondary roads; those that monitor speeding in urban environments are municipally managed and do not appear on the list. The radars of Catalonia and the Basque Country do not depend on the national body either, since these two autonomous communities have transferred the Traffic powers (they are included with information from the regional governments).

Fines from 100 to 600 euros

One more piece of information so that this Easter and at any other time you have everything under control when it comes to speed. We are now talking about the fines that the radars can impose.

As the table shows, speeding is punishable by a financial fine and, depending on the seriousness of the offence, withdrawal of points from the driving licence. In all cases, a 50% discount can be obtained if the penalty is paid in the voluntary period; Of course, the discount is incompatible with starting an appeal.

Finally, the question about when a DGT radar can fine you leads us to talk about margins of error. By law, all cinemometers must be calibrated in such a way that they leave a few kilometres/hour of margin before taking the photographs (it is important that they be in the plural) that identify the offending vehicle.

Without going into complex technical considerations, this is summarized in what is known as the rule of 7: add 7 km/h to the maximum speed allowed in each section as long as the limit does not exceed 100 km/h; On dual carriageways and highways limited to 120 km/h, the radar margin is 7%, that is, 8.4 km/h will have to be added.

But be careful, the legislation also establishes that the margin of error has to be different depending on the type of radar: the fixed ones and the section ones apply a margin of 5 km/h for speeds below 100 km/h and 5% for superiors; while Pegasus radars have to add 10% to the registered speed before starting the penalty process.