It is 11:20 am this Wednesday, January 5 and, in front of the Matabiau station, a van is parked on one of the two lanes of Boulevard Pierre-Sémard, obstructing traffic. A great classic in Toulouse which has made the area around the station a black spot for city traffic despite the nearby minute deposit. The offense was not escaped by a municipal police officer who, behind his screen, from the video PC in the Saint-Cyprien district, zooms in on the license plate and records the verbalization on a computer tool. In a few days, the holder of the vehicle registration document will receive a fine of 135 € in his letterbox for parking in the middle of the road. “If there is no traffic, we wait a few minutes. We show good judgment, ”assures the municipal police officer.
In Toulouse, since 2016, video over-marking, that is to say the possibility of verbalizing via cameras, has been in effect in the hyper-center, inside the boulevards and allées Charles-de-Fitte on the shore side. left. It punishes parking infractions: a car parked on a sidewalk, a cycle lane, a bus lane, etc.
But since the start of the year, things have changed. The perimeter is extended to the whole city via the network of current 470 cameras. And traffic offenses are added to those on the parking lot: blown red light, white line crossed, prohibited entry, mobile phone while driving, belt not fastened, no helmet for two wheels… What the elected officials voted on the 22nd October has become reality or is starting to be as the compulsory signs are laid. The perimeter has thus just been widened to include the station and rue Bayard.

Visual patrols

“The challenge is to assert the rules for sharing public space. Sidewalks, cycle paths, it’s not for parking, ”underlines Emilion Esnault, deputy mayor in charge of security who also emphasizes the need to fight against dangerous, from U-turns on the boulevards to rodeos or some wedding processions. The elected representative denies putting pressure on the motorist in general aiming “the one who does not respect the rules”. And assume the use of cameras. “It is a complementary tool, within a regulatory framework with sworn agents and the same discernment. The idea is not to bludgeon but to respond to the issues that concern us all. “
Concretely, behind their screens, municipal police officers carry out visual patrols, as their colleagues do on foot. Yesterday morning, for example, around twenty sensitive points had to be checked: in addition to the station and rue Bayard, the interior of the boulevards and the new bridge, for example, where motorists were surprised on the bus lane as far as rue de Metz. .