Dutch people who receive a traffic fine through the letterbox almost every week need a tougher approach, traffic experts say. Safe Traffic Netherlands (VVN) advocates various measures, including personal warnings, reintroduction of the alcohol lock and, if that does not work: confiscating vehicles. “So many fines on one license plate is unacceptable. This crosses all boundaries,” spokesperson Willemijn Pomper told this site.
About 31,000 license plate holders received ten or more traffic fines last year, the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) reported on Monday after an appeal to the Open Government Act (Woo) by BNR. In the previous two years, this number also fluctuated around 30,000. Of the group that committed errors more than ten times last year, almost three hundred license plate holders received more than fifty fines. These are minor traffic violations, in most cases speed violations, according to the CJIB.
‘Signal employer’
Someone who receives a fine almost every week is completely insensitive to it and so a different approach is needed, notes Veilig Verkeer Nederland. “It is human to receive a fine every now and then, but this is of course of a completely different order. Something really needs to be done about this, because these people are a danger to themselves and others.”
Traditional measures appear not to be effective enough, VVN believes. That is why a more personal approach is needed, in the form of letters or e-mails. For example, if someone collects three fines in a very short time, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) must send that person a warning. “And if it turns out that that person drives a lease car, his employer must also be informed about this,” says Pomper.
Road safety institute SWOV is in favor of personal letters. “We estimate that this is a promising measure to significantly reduce the number of traffic violations.” If a warning by letter does not work, an invitation to the police station is the next step. “This way you always go the extra mile to get through to these road users.”
‘Whoever does not want to hear…’
The notorious traffic offenders mainly concern minor traffic violations, in most cases speed violations, according to the CJIB. After a violation, a so-called Mulder fine follows. After the amount has been paid, the incident is resolved. It is therefore not the case that violations accumulate and that as more violations occur, someone can be punished more severely. That should be the case, according to traffic psychologist Gerard Tertoolen. “If you don’t want to hear, you have to feel. A punishment system affects our mammalian brain.”
Tertoolen is a fan of the Belgian approach. There, for example, drivers who are caught using a mobile phone while driving will lose their driving license for two weeks. Veilig Verkeer Nederland is also concerned about the large number of drink drivers in our country. “That really has to stop. We therefore remain in favor of the return of the alcohol interlock.”
With an alcohol interlock, a driver must first take a breath test. If it is negative, the car can be started. More than ten years ago, the lock was introduced as a measure that could be imposed. But the Council of State ruled that the measure is too drastic and takes too little account of the personal situation of the directors.
If the above measures do not work, the Public Prosecution Service should seize vehicles, VVN believes. “That may be rigorous, but if nothing else helps, as far as we are concerned there is no other choice.”
Public Prosecution Service fears proliferation of municipal speed cameras
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.”
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Tags: traffic fine week VVN advocates alcohol interlock confiscation vehicles Domestic
