The summer of 2021 is here and surely you are already planning your trips. Whether it is vacation trips or weekends to town or with some friends, this summer of 2021 he arrives with a huge monkey to travel. So you have to prepare the car and be ready to move for everything that we have not been able to move during this last year and a half. But beware, the radars are lurking to make your trip bitter. Today I explain how to avoid radars in the summer of 2021. And it must be recognized that due to the pandemic we have had a good season wanting to travel and drive to feel free at the wheel. The danger of stepping on the accelerator a bit too much is a real danger to avoid. In addition, the General Directorate of Traffic knows it and is on the lookout. Today we will tell you how are the new radars that you have acquired so that you do not miss a single one.

New DGT radars in 2021

The General Directorate of Traffic has acquired new radars for the summer of 2021. You should know a little about their characteristics to know what you are facing on the roads. Only then can you avoid being “hunted” and get a good fine. It must be taken into account that the DGT knows that this year there will be more displacements than in the summer of 2020. Tourism is reactivated and will be, eminently, with a national destination due to the uncertainty in other countries due to the state of the pandemic outside our borders . Although the specific details of the DGT campaign for the summer of 2021 are not yet known if he knows that it will be strict. Traffic accident victims are scary and it is feared that they will increase in this year 2021. To cite just one piece of information only in the month of May 2021, the number of deaths in traffic accidents has doubled compared to the same period in 2021. If in 2020 there were 43 deaths on the road in 2021 there were 87, a very black figure that it does not encourage optimism.

How to know where the radars are

The DGT is expected to intensify the presence of drones on the road this year as a way to control Spanish roads more quickly and at less cost.
We tend to think that all DGT radars are all the same, but nothing could be further from the truth. They exist of different types and knowing them will help you to be able to avoid them properly.

• Gantry radars. These are quite effective automatic radars. It is located on the porches where the road panels are installed on the road. They work 24 hours a day without rest since they do not need the presence of any human being controlling them.
• Section radar. They are one of the most recent additions to the DGT radar catalog and also the most effective. It consists of two simple cameras, one at the entry point of the section to be controlled and the other at the exit. A simple calculation of the average speed allows you to proceed with the fine.
• Traffic light radar. As expected, they are the most common in cities and consist of a camera installed in a traffic light.
• Pole radars. They are similar to gantry, but installed on road poles. In many cases they do not cover all lanes, but in general they already do. They are usually quite difficult to discover with the naked eye.
• Cabin radars. They are installed in side cabins and work with light beam or laser light. They are usually the easiest to identify with the naked eye, but do not trust yourself.
• Radars in vehicles. It is not that they are the most effective, but they are the most surprising since being installed in a car will appear where we least expect it without being able to foresee it.
• Tripod radars. Like the previous ones, they require the presence of the agent controlling the device. The only difference is that they are installed on a small tripod so they can be more hidden even than a vehicle radar.
• The drones of the DGT. Convince yourself, these drones are the future of road control by the DGT. Drones are very cheap devices compared to helicopters, and easier to keep hidden (they are smaller than a helicopter so that’s obvious). At the moment they need the permanent intervention of a pilot but the possibility of automatic driving is not far off, so that the same operator can be controlling and monitoring several drones at the same time.

Radar Margin of Error

Still many drivers repeat a half hoax dating from the last century. The one that if you exceed up to 10% of the maximum speed allowed, the radar does not fine you. That was about 20 years ago. At present that small margin has been reduced considerably.
Although this margin varies depending on the speed at which the vehicle was going and the type of radar that captured the infraction, you should take as a reference between 5 and 7 kilometers per hour, nothing more. So you can be sure that if in a stretch of 120 kilometers maximum hours you reach 130 the fine will not be taken away from you by anyone. That as a general rule, although there are still some old models in which that margin of 10 kilometers per hour is applied. But do not trust him or you will surely make a serious mistake.

Find the DGT radars

As you may have already noticed, many of the radars are previously marked. Usually 2 to 3 kilometers before the fixed radar location, drivers are alerted to its presence.
There are also other more complete formulas available to you. Here are some:

• Radar detectors. There are a large number of radar detection devices. Although you should know that most of them are expressly prohibited by the DGT.
• Mobile applications. There are also a good number of mobile APPs to detect a radar. These types of applications usually connect to Google Maps or its own database and will need the location of your smartphone to be permanently connected to be able to detect the radar.
• Google Maps. If you use Google Maps as a navigator during the trip, it will show you some of the radars (not all) but it will certainly be a great help on the road.
  And sometimes simple common sense and prudence will save you more than one disappointment. Predicting where an unstable radar can be located (in changes in grade or in areas with poor visibility, for example) will help you avoid more than one scare.
  Have a good trip and enjoy your vacation without scares with fines or loss of points on your card.