Over 8 million traffic violations detected in 2021
In 2021, some 8,024,118 traffic offences were detected under the Traffic Regulations (Administrative Enforcement) Act (Wet administratiefrechtelijke handhaving verkeersvoorschriften, Wahv). This represents an increase compared with the same period in the previous year when 7,779,461 traffic fines were issued for violations, such as speeding, failure to stop at a red light and using a handheld phone in traffic. The number of fines for the latter has increased in part due to the use of new enforcement measures. The increase of the number of traffic fines in 2021 compared to 2020 is demonstrated by the 2021 Wahv Annual Report*. This increase will be partly due to the fact that more people have taken to the road compared to 2020. In that year, the government first called on citizens to stay at home as much as possible due to COVID-19.
The increase in the number of traffic fines is mainly attributable to a higher number of registration number-based traffic offences detected under the Wahv: 7,524,743 in 2021, up from 7,223,157 a year earlier. By contrast, the number of traffic fines following controls has decreased from 556,304 in 2020 to 499,375. Due to the fact that a high degree of police deployment was required during the COVID-19 pandemic and in relation to other developments in society, the police have needed time to recover. This may account for the decrease in the number of controls.
Speeding offences
Most traffic fines were issued for speeding: 6,641,936, up from 6,364,857 a year earlier. The majority of these traffic offences were detected by means of registration number-based enforcement. In 2020, 2,803,661 speeding fines were issued after controls with a speed camera, decreasing to 2,830,213 in 2021. Some 1,509,650 speeding offences were detected with mobile radar speed guns, up from 1,476,304 in the previous year.
There was an increase in the number of speeding offences detected with section control systems. The total number of speeding offences detected at section controls increased from 1,963,918 in 2020 to 2,103,772 in 2021, which could be accounted for by the fact that section controls were implemented on N roads in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, this was not yet the case everywhere year-round
The average fine for a traffic offence last year was € 81.15 and € 63.60 for a speeding offence specifically. In 2020, this was € 81,38 and € 64,19 respectively.
Foreign-based traffic offenders
In 2021, 784,421 of the traffic fines issued were fines imposed on a driver of a vehicle with a foreign registration number, compared to 870,695 a year earlier. This decrease can most likely be accounted for by the decrease in cross-border travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns both in our country and, for example, in Belgium and Germany. In addition, fewer fines were issued to British nationals, which is a decline that is set to continue as a result of Brexit. As of 31 January 2020, the Cross Border Enforcement Directive no longer applies to British nationals.
* The four-monthly summary of traffic fines pursuant to the Traffic Regulations (Administrative Enforcement) Act, also known as the Mulder Act, is compiled by the Ministry of Justice and Security, the National Police, the Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) and the Public Prosecution Service (OM).