The Public Prosecution Service (OM) warns of a proliferation of speed cameras if municipalities themselves start fining speed offenders. Cities want to use the proceeds to improve local road safety, but the Public Prosecution Service sees no point in this. “Traffic will not become safer by filling the Netherlands with speed cameras.”
At the beginning of March, the mayors of four major cities sent a letter to the cabinet in which they insisted on being able to install speed cameras themselves. Now the Public Prosecution Service determines where automatic speed checks are held in the Netherlands, but that is not enough for the mayors.
According to them, many accidents in cities happen due to reckless and fast driving. They want to reduce the speed by increasing the chance of being caught, but often encounter a wall of unwillingness from the Public Prosecution Service, according to the complaint. “We can send a letter, but we often get the response that we have to adjust the street first,” Rotterdam councilor Vincent Karremans said earlier in the media. According to him, his city has 6,500 streets. “If I want to tackle 10 percent of that, it will take me 65 years. Then we are in 2089, while now we have a problem.”
Number of traffic fatalities
Chief officer Liesbeth Schuijer, of the Central Public Prosecution Service, which installs and manages all speed cameras in the Netherlands, is now responding for the first time to the mayors’ dissatisfaction. She also sees that road safety is not going in the right direction. Although there were 61 fewer traffic deaths last year than in 2022, there are still too many people killed in traffic. In 2023 there were 684 victims. “The number of victims is not decreasing fast enough, so things are certainly not going well yet,” she says.
The Netherlands is growing and traffic intensity is increasing. This requires more measures, but the solution that a number of mayors are now presenting to the cabinet is not desirable, according to Schuijer. “The Netherlands will not become safer by filling it with speed cameras.”
As far as she is concerned, enforcement with speed cameras is the final step if other measures have insufficient effect. This concerns campaigns to change the behavior of drivers. But also adapting roads. “If motorists have to drive 30 kilometers per hour on a two-lane road, you make it very difficult for drivers to stick to that speed. Then you first have to adjust the road before you can start credibly enforcing it.”
With a different design of the road, the speed can often be reduced. Schuijer understands that this can take a long time. Moreover, it often involves enormous investments. But according to the chief officer, much can often be achieved with cheaper, interim solutions. “Think of flower boxes along the road or light signals. A good example is the Coolsingel in Rotterdam, where flashing lights in the road surface warn of zebra crossings. That encourages us to slow down.”
Support undermined
Schuijer fears that if municipalities can install speed cameras themselves, this will lead to major regional differences in traffic controls. She predicts that some municipalities will be more proactive than others. Moreover, there is a perverse incentive in the mayors’ plan; The cities want to collect the proceeds themselves to improve road safety locally. This can lead to a proliferation of flashes. In Belgium, where some cities already work this way, barriers were even removed because this increased the chance of being caught. “Such examples put pressure on the sense of justice and undermine support for speed cameras.”
According to Schuijer, the figures prove that support is now high. Only 4 percent of the approximately eight million offenders appeal. Last year that was 343,000 drivers. A judge ruled that only 1 percent of all traffic fines had been imposed incorrectly. Schuijer fears that the number of wrongly issued fines could increase considerably if proper thought has not been given to where those speed cameras are located. Moreover, it will not become clearer for administrators if municipalities start processing fines and appeals against them themselves.
Schuijer doesn’t think it’s a good idea for municipalities to have speed violators ‘flashed’ themselves. Not even because the number of speed cameras will be significantly expanded in the coming years. By 2029, this will amount to 1,200 places, partly due to the purchase of 125 so-called flex flash units. The number of fixed speed cameras will also be expanded from the current 642 to 750 in 2029 and 50 mobile speed cameras will be installed that check for the use of mobile phones behind the wheel. “With this we can make a significant contribution to making the most risky places in the Netherlands safer. Municipalities can certainly make suggestions for this.”
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Tags: Public Prosecution Service fears proliferation municipal speed cameras undermine sense justice support Domestic
