1st educational nautical radars in Port Camargue
If speed cameras, combined with signs announcing your speed, are familiar to motorists in city centers, they are much less familiar to boaters at the helm of their boats. However, sailors entering Port Camargue have discovered them at the foot of the marina's harbour office.
For this purpose, the Port Camargue Authority has invested 5630 euros (excl. VAT), allowing the road system to be marinized with the Sud Signalisation company and to display a speed in knots.
Educate boaters and protect boats
The installation of these 2 speed cameras for boats is part of a more global approach of Port Camargue, started after regular complaints from boaters about the excessive speed of some boats in the harbor. The speed limit is 5 knots, but it is not uncommon for the limit to be exceeded in this large port. For the most remote rings, it takes 15 minutes at 5 knots to exit the harbor. In the summer of 2021, the speed from the harbor exit to the sandbar area has been limited to 10 knots.
From now on, the Authority wishes to raise the awareness of boaters thanks to the radars. The objective is obviously to improve the safety of boaters and to avoid accidents and collisions, but also, by avoiding wake waves that are too large, to limit the wear and tear on boats at the quay. This will also allow the people on board the boats to have better living conditions on board.
A device that will be developed?
If the experiment is successful, Port Camargue plans to extend the system with other radars at strategic points in the port.
Beyond that, the theme is of interest to other port operators, as the behavior of boaters in the port is not always exemplary. It is sometimes difficult to estimate one's speed and one does not always have one's eyes riveted on the speedo. If the measure will surely irritate some users, it is only educational at this stage. It is up to each boater to discipline himself to avoid the use of speed cameras for the drivers of the seas...
