Public Prosecution Service wants to keep speed camera policy, despite a letter of caution from municipalities

NOS News•today, 09:11

The Public Prosecution Service does not want municipalities to be given broader authority to install speed cameras. This is what Chief Officer of the Public Prosecution Service Traffic Public Prosecutor Liesbeth Schuijer reports NOS Radio 1 News, after reporting in the AD. “Traffic will not become safer by filling the Netherlands with speed cameras.”

Last month, the G4 (Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague) called for broader powers regarding the expansion of traffic rules. Although the number of speed cameras will be expanded in the coming years, the G4 wants to be able to act more effectively against speeding violations, for example. This is only possible if they can determine the locations of speed cameras themselves, say the four major cities.

Enforcement of traffic rules, including speed cameras, is now regulated nationally by the Public Prosecution Service. Government organizations, such as the police, implement the policy and are responsible. The Public Prosecution Service wants to keep it that way.

But the Public Prosecution Service also believes that traffic will not necessarily become safer if there are more speed cameras. As far as Schuijer is concerned, enforcement with speed cameras is the last measure that needs to be taken to make traffic safer. Campaigns to change driver behavior and adapt roads are much more effective, says the chief officer.

“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 credibly enforce it,” Schuijer said in the AD .

According to the chief officer, installing a speed camera is also quite complex. “There are all kinds of technical requirements that must be met. There must be good sight lines, so that you get good photos. And we also look at road design and how risky such a place is, in order to come up with a good place in consultation with the municipality .”

Schuijer recognizes the point of the municipalities that they know best where the dangerous places are. “They have a point there,” she says. “That is why there is always consultation about the location of the poles. And there is always an analysis of the risk factors at such a location and the municipalities are often an important source of information for us.”

The municipality of Tilburg, which does not fall under the G4 but also struggles with traffic casualties, says it has already submitted an application for a new speed camera six times, but so far they have always been rejected. According to Schuijer, this may work out well in the expansion.

“Our offer is quite decent and we are also making an inventory so that by 2026 we can enforce double the number of places than we do now. And a large part of that place will also end up in the municipalities that request it.”