Part of the license plate cameras in the city center of Assen has been temporarily removed. The lampposts on which these cameras hung needed to be replaced and therefore disappeared for a few weeks.
It concerns the cameras at the Weierspoort, the Kerkstraat, the Oude Molenstraat and the Mercuriuscentrum. Since January 1, license plate cameras have been running throughout the city center to chase unwanted car traffic out of the shopping streets. Since then, the supply hours for freight traffic and delivery vans have also been reduced to one moment in the day, from 07:00 to 12:00 in the morning.
When the cameras were installed, the municipality did not know that part of them would be removed after three months. “We didn’t know that at the time, because an external party manages it,” says spokesman for the municipality Eddy Beuker. “If we had known that, it would have made sense to wait a while,” he admits.
At the end of March, the intention is that the new lampposts will be installed and the cameras will return. Until then, there will be no camera surveillance in part of the city centre. The other six entrances to the pedestrian area in the center are still being controlled. These are the Markt, Ceresplein, Ceresstraat, Oudestraat, Gedempte Singel and Mulderstraat.
According to Beuker, the replacement is not in the papers for the municipality. “We are not missing any fines, because we are not handing them out at the moment. We are just warning now.” It is not known when fines will actually be issued. “In any case soon,” he warns.
Replacing the cameras does entail costs. “But that amount is manageable, because it is not about thousands of euros. Together with the external company, we will see how we can solve this,” says Beuker. The spokesperson could not say what the exact amount was.
The measures must ensure a cleaner and safer city centre. Six years ago, Assen started a trial with license plate cameras on the Brink. An evaluation showed that the number of violations around this area decreased sharply due to camera enforcement. Traffic that drove through the pedestrian zone despite warning signs automatically received a ticket at home, based on the license plate.