Two months ago the minister of interior inaugurated the national surveillance system, consisting of 21 cameras watching over road traffic between the capital Bucharest in southern Romania, and Azuga town, some 136 kilometers oti the north.
Vasile Blaga said then the aim of the surveillance system was to reduce the risks for car accidents on the inter-city sections of the roads were they occurred most often.
For a EU funded 2.83 million euros project then, drivers got watched over by a camera each seven kilometers or so.
Few people know though that of these, only eight cameras actually work at any one time.
A computer randomly selects them each day. The system is partitioned into three independent parts, and monitored from three separate locations: the Police Academy in Bucharest, Sinaia town and Barcanesti village.
The assessment of two months of monitored traffic shows drivers do not run anymore as they did. In fact, that section of road turned into the safest in Romania, said Traffic Police Commissioner Carol Varna, the risk for traffic-accidents diving to almost zero percent.
The Police analysis found traffic also performed more smoothly, but drivers do not agree.
They say the cameras slowed traffic so much that arriving from Bucharest to Ploiesti city, some 60 kilometers to the north, takes now 30 to 45 minutes more.
A few days ago, the Police Inspectorate General said it hiked the speed-limit for cars in villages to 70 kilometers per hour, from 50 kilometers per hour, before. However, this was not valid for Posada and Timisul de Sus, where the winding road made the 50 kilometers per hour speed-limit stay.
The previous speed-limit also stays for all other types of vehicles.
Romanian drivers tried to trick the surveillance system in various ways, but police said this is close to impossible to perform. And, more than that, surveillance cameras are able to detect cars with number plates covered in plastic sheet, paint or other methods, so drivers attempting to beat the system end up facing it, when they are stopped by traffic police a few kilometers down the road.
The anti-radar systems drivers mount on their cars do not work either to tell in advance where a surveillance camera might be located.
The only detecting system is the GPS, available now in Romania too, for around 450 euros. The GPS system memorizes the road map of Romania, plus the speed-limits on each section of road, and gives a warning system for the driver to slow down when he or she enters the area of a surveillance camera.
Translation by Anca Paduraru
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