News item | 07-03-2024 | 07:00
With almost 8.5 million traffic violations under the Administrative Law Enforcement of Traffic Regulations Act (Wahv) in 2023, the number of traffic violations is for the first time again above the level before the corona restrictive measures. A total of 8,463,917 Wahv decisions, also known as the Mulder fines, were issued. In 2022 there were 8,153,043, in the last pre-corona year (2019) 8,369,480. This is evident from the annual figures of the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) for 2023.
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The majority of all fines were issued on the basis of a license plate, but in almost 620 thousand cases the fine was imposed after a stop. That was 7.3 percent of the total, 1 percent more than in 2022.
Biggest risers in ‘other’ category
The majority of fines were issued for speeding, incorrect parking or driving through red lights. But the largest increase was in the so-called other category (from 974,108 to 1,210,416). For example, significantly more people drove into areas where they were not allowed (car-free inner cities, environmental zones: about 130,000 more violations) and the number of fines for not wearing a helmet increased by almost 50,000. To reduce the number of serious injuries following accidents involving mopeds, wearing a helmet on mopeds was also made mandatory last year.
Calling in the car and on the bicycle was also reported more often: in total, the number of fines increased by more than 21 thousand to almost 200 thousand. More than 62 thousand were in favor of calling by bicycle (about 9,000 more than in 2022). Over the past year, the police have invested heavily in investigating phone calls behind the wheel and on a bicycle.
Speeding
Most decisions were issued for speeding offences: 6,546,450. That was slightly more than in 2022: 6,512,086. Within this total, the number of violations during a section check has decreased for the second year in a row: from 2026,939 to 1,864,402. The decline is especially visible on the so-called N-roads, the provincial roads. 2023 was also the first full year in which the flex flash units were active. These are temporarily deployed in places where dangerous situations have arisen on the instructions of, for example, the police or a road manager. 472,287 speeding violations were detected.
Foreign traffic offenders
The number of traffic offenders with a foreign license plate decreased very slightly in 2023: from 874,539 in 2022 to 872,368 in 2023. Most violations for speeding were also observed among these license plate holders. Most offenders came from Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Romania and Spain.