Driving a bit over the limit? The new change that could generate hundreds of thousands of tickets

A day after the change in the adjudication method for 'minor' speeding offenses, the Israel Police announces an update to the enforcement thresholds of A-3 speed cameras. The veteran cameras, scattered on roads and at intersections, will be recalibrated and are expected to produce hundreds of thousands of additional tickets. The change relates to the new traffic courts, which will turn minor offenses into 'violations' subject to fast digital adjudication.

Just one day has passed since the adjudication method for drivers who committed 'minor' speeding offenses changed, and the Israel Police is already announcing a change in the enforcement method for speeding offenses. The change refers to the orange cameras scattered on roadsides - A-3 cameras. According to the main points of the police statement: "The Traffic Division is updating the enforcement thresholds in speed cameras. Drivers, drive at the speed limit! Otherwise, you will be recorded and the ticket will be sent directly to you." The police further announces that as part of a professional and comprehensive examination of the speed camera array, the Traffic Division conducted an individual assessment of each camera, analyzing road characteristics, traffic volumes, road accident data, number of casualties, and risk characteristics in each segment. At the end of the examination, a decision was made by the head of the Traffic Division, Commander Haim Shmueli, to update the enforcement thresholds in the cameras. The update applies only to the A-3 enforcement camera array, an outdated system comprising about a hundred automatic speed cameras scattered on Israeli roads and at intersections. The cameras record speeding offenses using a pair of metal strips embedded in the road; the time interval between passing over the first strip and the second, which are about a meter apart, is calculated and allows determining the vehicle's speed. Until now, the cameras were calibrated to allow a 'tolerance margin' of about five percent, meaning they would not photograph if the vehicle drove slightly above the speed limit. Now the threshold will be recalibrated. Legally, every ticket issued for speed by an A-3 camera requires an automatic reduction of five km/h from the driving speed due to the tolerance margin. The A-3 camera project has existed on Israeli roads for over a decade, and already last December the process of replacing the cameras began. As revealed in 'Calcalist', since the beginning of the year, the veteran orange cameras have issued over 276,000 tickets. It is hard to ignore the proximity between the change in the adjudication method and the police announcement about changing the enforcement threshold. The change that took effect yesterday concerns the new traffic courts - the courts of traffic 'violations'. The change included 'minor' speeding offenses in the basket of offenses now considered traffic 'violations', for which one can be tried in a fast digital procedure. In practice, the police announcement may bring drivers who drive at speeds of six or eight kilometers per hour above the limit into the circle of offenders, who will be tried in the new courts. According to estimates by factors involved in traffic law, this is a move that could generate hundreds of thousands of tickets from drivers who will rush to pay the fine within the new traffic procedure.