The Court of Justice of the Federal District ordered the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva (PT) to release R$150.2 million to the DNIT (National Department of Transport Infrastructure) to guarantee the reactivation and operation of electronic radars on federal highways.
In August, Justice had already . They had been deactivated due to lack of resources.
At the time, the judge responsible for the case, Diana Wanderlei, asked DNIT to inform the amount it would need to receive from the government to maintain the radars.
In response, the department explained that the funding had been exhausted since July and that there were legal and budgetary obstacles that prevented the release of the money.
According to reported data, the annual cost of the system is R$364 million. This year’s budget, however, allocated only R$43.3 million.
DNIT informed the court that to reconnect the equipment from August to December, R$151.7 million would be needed.
The judge concluded that the lack of resources is the Union’s responsibility and determined that the amount be released without harming other DNIT activities.
In the August decision, Diana Wanderlei states that the shutdown of the system represents a “blackout of the highways” and puts the lives of drivers at risk, given the exponential increase in vehicle speeds on unsupervised stretches.
She also highlighted the strategic role of radars in criminal investigations, such as cargo thefts and highway kidnappings.
The case currently in court is a popular action filed by senator Fabiano Contarato (PT-ES) in 2019, after former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) announced that he would remove the surveillance radars from operation.
That year, the Court approved an agreement with Bolsonaro’s government that guaranteed the maintenance of radars on stretches of highways where there was a higher mortality rate.
