NOS News•today, 03:07•Amended today, 12:28
Last year, around 31,000 Dutch people received more than ten traffic fines. This is evident from figures that BNR Nieuwsradio requested from the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB).
The group of road users who frequently commit errors has remained approximately the same size over the past three years. Three quarters of the fines were received for speeding violations (up to a maximum of 30 km/h, and 40 km/h on the highway). This also includes parking fines and fines for running red lights.
These less serious traffic offenses fall under the law mainly known as the Mulder Act, which was introduced in 1989 to relieve the Public Prosecution Service. Without the intervention of a judge, these violations can be dealt with by a fine from the CJIB.
It was unclear for a long time how large the group of frequent offenders is. The CJIB did not want to release the figures, but made them public after BNR invoked the Open Government Act.
Tougher approach
The number of 31,000 repeat traffic offenders is relatively small compared to the 12 million people with a driver’s license in the Netherlands. But this group does pose a major danger on the road, writes BNR. Previous research by the Institute for Scientific Research on Road Safety (SWOV) shows that people with eleven fines in four years are more than forty times more likely to be involved in an accident.
Victim Support Netherlands therefore advocates a tougher approach. “In the Netherlands you can simply drive fifty times too fast and have to pay fifty times,” Rosa Jansen, chairman of the board of directors of Victim Support Netherlands, told BNR. “You have a murder weapon in your hands in a car, which requires associated responsibility.” Jansen believes that the Public Prosecution Service should be more creative in prosecuting road users who often make mistakes.
Political resistance
The Hague has been calling for a progressive fine system for years, in which road users who make mistakes more often receive higher fines. Or you may be banned from driving after a certain number of fines, as also happens in other countries. The previous government also included that intention in the coalition agreement. “Notorious traffic offenders will be dealt with more severely,” the coalition parties promised. “The fine system is being changed.”
But the following year, in 2018, the government canceled those plans. A new fine system would cost “several tens of millions of euros” and its development would take years, the Public Prosecution Service and CJIB warned.
In addition, higher fines would encourage more lawsuits, the government outlined, while the current fine system actually relieves the judge. Judges could also rule that it was not established who was behind the wheel during the violation, which would call into question the entire fine system. Because now the license plate holder can always be held liable and the fine, which is important for the national budget, is a ‘certainty’.
Point system
The question remains whether repeat traffic offenders can be tempted to behave differently within the current system. Because these road users are relatively more often involved in a criminal case due to a traffic offense than drivers who occasionally do not comply with the traffic rules, the WODC concluded in 2018. During the research period this was 14 versus 3 percent.
According to Groningen professor of traffic psychology Dick de Waard, a points system is “not a strange idea”. The Netherlands now also has this for novice drivers and for driving under the influence. “If you were to also apply that system to this group, you would get a good look at people who continue to commit violations and could apply a different punishment.”
“But it is a very difficult group,” De Waard immediately adds. “They are not sensitive to fines. These are already quite high in the Netherlands compared to abroad. I think further increases have little effect. And there are also people who you deprive of their driving license and who still continue to drive. There is not one recipe that works for everyone.”
