In recent weeks, blue speed cameras on German roads have caused irritation, including on social media.
Since the term “blue speed cameras” alone is misleading, as they are toll control columns for trucks, many people initially assumed that they were new types of speed measuring devices. Therefore, there have been repeated false warnings about these devices in the past.
Why are these things blue? Quite simply: Since the stations were built by Toll Collect, the company that operates the German truck toll system on behalf of the federal government, they were quickly designed in Toll Collect's corporate design. So in blue with a touch of green. Simply recognizable.
You can find photos from all over Germany on Facebook that show control stations that have just been set up. Some photos were also taken during construction and uploaded with public status.
From 2018, around 600 control columns on federal highways will check whether the toll is paid correctly. The control columns on the federal highways complement the mobile controls of the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG). Control bridges like those over motorways are not built on federal highways. Technically, the new control columns are equipped with similar functions to the control bridges.
They are used to carry out toll checks in moving traffic without trucks having to stop. Slim and painted blue, they blend into the landscape of the federal highways. Structural interventions in nature are therefore kept to a minimum
Accordingly, there were also corrections within status reports after it became known that these devices do not measure speed. Toll Collect writes :
The new control columns are not used for speed monitoring. The control columns only check whether trucks with a permissible total weight of 7.5 tonnes or more pay the toll correctly. Road users can distinguish the control columns from “speed camera columns” for speed monitoring because they are not only painted blue, but are also almost four meters high.
Technology and functionality of the control column
The control columns on federal highways are stationary devices that are set up on the side of the road. When a vehicle passes a checkpoint, an overview, a side view and a license plate image are created. The vehicle device sends the trip data and vehicle-specific information to the control column. The company and the driver are responsible for the accuracy of the data to be transmitted.
If the driver has set the number of axles correctly and checked whether the on-board unit is operational, the image data is discarded. 2 With the Federal Highway Toll Act (BFStrMG), the legislature has issued the same strict requirements for the registration of vehicles by the control column as for the control bridges. As is already the case today, only data from trucks with a permissible total weight of 7.5 tonnes or more that are suspected of violating a toll will be forwarded to a control center. Data from vehicles not subject to toll will be immediately deleted from the control column.
Structure of the control columns
Toll Collect coordinated the locations with the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) and checked whether, among other things, electricity and telecommunications connections were available there. The necessary approval procedures are then submitted to the responsible administrative bodies. If approval is given, civil engineering begins and the foundation is laid. The column is then assembled and connected to the central systems. Thanks to modern construction methods, road closures are reduced to a minimum during construction.
Background:
At the end of March 2017, the law expanding the truck toll to all federal highways came into force on July 1, 2018. The toll currently applies to trucks with a total weight of 7.5 tonnes or more over a total of 15,000 kilometers on motorways and certain federal highways. On July 1, 2018, the toll network will grow by another 36,000 kilometers of federal roads. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has commissioned Toll Collect with the technical preparation for this expansion.
Source “Toll Collect”
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

