News item | 10-10-2023 | 4:00 pm
In the second quarter of 2023 (May to August), 3,139,438 traffic violations were detected on the basis of the Administrative Law Enforcement of Traffic Regulations Act (Wahv). That is an increase of 6.9% compared to the same period a year earlier. Then 2,937,812 traffic fines were imposed. The increase can mainly be explained by increasing traffic on the roads. In addition, more fines have been imposed for speeding, handheld telephone use and failure to comply with the helmet requirement.
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The number of traffic violations detected with digital enforcement tools has increased slightly from 2,766,195 in 2022 in the months of May to August to 2,937,129 in the same period of 2023. Digital enforcement tools include speed cameras and section control systems. The number of standing postures is also higher this year than last year. The number of traffic fines after a stop was 202,309 in the second quarter of this year compared to 171,617 in the same period in 2022.
Speeding
Most traffic fines were imposed for speeding: 2,509,571 in the second quarter of 2023, compared to 2,370,783 in the same period a year earlier. The majority of these traffic violations were detected using digital enforcement tools on license plates. In the months of May to August 2023, 1,299,223 speeding violations were detected using a speed camera (an increase of 17.4%), 420,084 with mobile radar sets, a decrease of 2.5%. There were also 728,708 violations found during section checks, a decrease of 7.4%.
The large increase in speed cameras compared to last year can be explained by the use of the flex speed camera since November 2022. There are now almost 30 flex speed cameras that are used throughout the country, this number will continue to grow in the coming years. The decrease in section checks is mainly visible in the section control systems on N-roads, which have been active since 2020. Now that these checks have been in place for a while, drivers are more likely to adhere to the speed limit, which improves road safety.
Increase in fines for use of mobile phones, violations of mandatory helmet use and bicycle lights
The ‘other’ category (which includes violating the helmet requirement, handheld telephone use and not using bicycle lights) shows notable increases. A total of 402,283 fines were imposed in this category in this third quarter of 2023, compared to 344,993 in the same period last year. In the months of May to August 2023, 30,547 fines were imposed for violating the helmet requirement, compared to 13,380 fines in the same period a year earlier. The introduction of mandatory helmet use for mopeds (1 January 2023) explains the higher number of fines in this period. In the second third of this year, more violations were found for handheld telephone use compared to the same period last year. Last year, 66,150 people were seen holding a mobile phone in their hand as drivers, this year this was the case with 72,609 people. For the lack of good and safe bicycle lighting, 5,965 fines were imposed in the second quarter of this year, compared to 3,996 fines in the same period in 2022.
Foreign traffic offenders
In the second quarter of 2023, 359,110 traffic fines were sent to a foreign traffic offender. This is a slight increase compared to the 358,108 fines in the same period in 2022.
* The four-monthly overview of traffic fines under the Administrative Law Enforcement Traffic Regulations Act (Wahv) is compiled by the Ministry of Justice and Security, the police, the CJIB and the Public Prosecution Service.