More than eight million traffic violations in 2022
In 2022, 8,153,043 traffic violations were reported under the Traffic Regulations (Administrative Enforcement) Act (Wet administratiefrechtelijke handhaving verkeersvoorschriften, Wahv). This is 1.6% more than in the previous year, when 8,024,118 traffic fines were imposed. These fines were imposed for traffic offences such as speeding, failure to stop for a red light and use of a handheld mobile phone while driving. In addition to these three violations, there was also a sharp increase in fines imposed for illegal parking/stopping. There were almost 60,000 more fines in this category than in the previous year. This could be explained by the fact that more people were parking in city centres again as shops reopened after the coronavirus crisis. There is also a notable increase in the numbers for the use of mobile phones on bicycles: 53,259 in 2022 compared to 45,778 a year earlier, therefore an increase of 16.3%.
Speeding offences
Most of the traffic fines imposed were for speeding. Of the total 8,153,043 fines imposed, 6,512,086 were for breaking the speed limit. That is a difference of 129,850 compared to the previous year. Last year, there were 6,641,936 fines.
The majority of these traffic offences were detected based on number plate recognition. In 2022, 3,014,680 speeding fines were imposed after speed checks with a speed camera, compared to 2,830,213 in 2021. This is an increase of about 6.5%. There were also 1,340,692 speeding violations detected with mobile radar sets, compared to 1,509,650 a year earlier.
A slight decrease can be seen in the number of speeding violations detected using section control systems. For section controls, the total number of speeding offences decreased from 2,103,772 to 2,026,939 in 2022. This is a decrease of 3.7%. A possible explanation for this could be the outage of some section control systems due to road works and the subsequent congestion on motorways forcing motorists to adjust their speed.
In November 2022, a new enforcement tool came into use: flexible speed cameras. These are mobile speed cameras that are set up at a particular location for about two months. In 2022, the first 10 flexible speed cameras were installed. The number of violations per flexible speed camera is shown separately in the overview of violations per speed camera.
In 2022, the average fine for a traffic violation was €84.16, and specifically for a speeding ticket, the fine was €62.88. In 2021, these were €81.15 and €63.60, respectively.
Foreign-based traffic offenders
Of the total number of traffic fines issued In 2022, 874,539 were imposed on drivers of vehicles with a foreign number plate, compared to 784,421 last year. This is a significant increase and can probably be explained by the fact that more people were visiting our country again after the coronavirus crisis. Most of the traffic fines were imposed on vehicles with German, French or Belgian number plates.
*The overview of traffic fines in accordance with the Traffic Regulations (Administrative Enforcement) Act, also known as the Mulder Act, is compiled by the Ministry of Justice and Security, National Police, Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) and Public Prosecution Service (OM).
Originally published at https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2023/02/23/more-than-eight-million-traffic-violations-in-2022
