The municipality governed by Pablo Cornet launched a pilot test with a mobile radar that changes location along the 5.4 kilometers of the avenue. The measure aims to modify driver behavior
After a series of accidents recorded on Padre Luchesse Avenue, road safety has once again become a priority in Villa Allende, in the Colón department, Córdoba.
In light of this situation, the municipality governed by Pablo Cornet has begun to use a mobile radar to monitor vehicle speed and generate a change in behavior among those traveling on one of the city's main connecting roads.
The pilot test started in early September and includes moving the device to different points along the 5.4 kilometers of Luchesse Avenue. The decision not to keep it fixed is part of a concrete strategy: to prevent drivers from reducing speed only when passing the location where they know there is a control. As explained by the secretary of Government of Villa Allende, Felipe Crespo, the goal is for the control to have an effect along the entire route.
“Initially, we have rented a mobile radar that will take readings from different positions, precisely so that people do not get used to slowing down only at one point,” Crespo explained
The decision was made in a context marked by the number of traffic accidents recorded on the avenue. According to data released by La Voz, since the beginning of the year, 39 accidents have been recorded along the 5.4 kilometers of the route, while during the last week of August, two accidents with fatalities occurred.
The municipality maintains that controlling speed is one of the first necessary measures to reduce the level of risk. The avenue has a posted maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, although there are sections where the limit is reduced to 60 and 40 kilometers per hour, especially at intersections and roundabouts.
According to Crespo, the intention is to begin controlling and sanctioning speed violations once the training phase for personnel is completed.
During the first days, the radar also functions as a preventive and educational tool. The device shows drivers the speed at which they are traveling, with the intention of generating an immediate reaction before an infraction or, eventually, an accident occurs. “We are not issuing fines yet because we are in this training phase,” Crespo clarified.
Speed on Luchesse Avenue
The problem is not limited to speed. The duplication of Padre Luchesse Avenue has increased traffic capacity and changed the characteristics of a road that crosses an expanding urban area. Residents have been demanding more traffic lights, speed bumps, and pedestrian walkways, due to the increase in traffic and the difficulties in making safe crossings.
In this regard, the municipality is working together with Caminos de las Sierras to analyze infrastructure solutions. Among the alternatives under study are the installation of traffic lights, macro roundabouts, turnarounds, and elevated pedestrian paths or crossings. The idea is for the radar to be just a first response while more extensive interventions are defined.
The discussion also raises a change in the approach to road safety. For Crespo, the avenue has already acquired characteristics of a urban avenue, due to the growth of neighborhoods, construction, and the number of people traveling daily through the area. According to data released by the official, around 15,000 vehicles pass through Luchesse daily.
Villa Allende and Speed Reduction
The challenge, therefore, goes beyond the placement of a radar. Villa Allende seeks to make speed reduction a habit and not just a reaction to a control. The combination of mobile radars, inspector presence, training, and future infrastructure works aims at a single goal: to reduce accidents and make an avenue that, with urban growth, has ceased to be merely a fast connection road and has become part of the city's daily fabric.
In this context, the radar appears as a prevention tool rather than a revenue-generating mechanism: to control, warn, and modify behaviors to prevent speed from becoming the factor that turns a traffic accident into a tragedy.
