The Vilvoorde police court has annulled the fine imposed on mobility expert Johan De Mol (Ghent University) for speeding because a private company co-finances the speed camera.
The ruling could undermine the entire average speed check system, especially in Flanders. Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA) intends to study the ruling thoroughly and, if necessary, amend the regulations governing average speed checks.
Mobility expert De Mol was caught speeding in Meise last year. He received a GAS fine (administrative fine) of €53 but decided to contest his fine in the police court. De Mol believed that the check was not carried out correctly and was intended to fill the coffers rather than improve road safety.
Not carried out correctly
On the road where he was caught driving 1 kph over the speed limit, the camera’s first measuring point is located barely 10 meters after the sign indicating a maximum speed of 30 kph, and the average speed check ends a few hundred meters further on.
“This is how you lure people into a trap,” said De Mol in the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. De Mol supports the rules that apply in transition zones in the Netherlands. You do not install average speed checks for the first 190 meters after a 50 kph sign following a 70 kph zone. This is because drivers need ten seconds to react to a changing traffic situation.
Perverse incentive
The judge ruled in his favor because the violation had not been recorded by someone authorized to do so. The determination was made automatically by the private company TaaS, which manages most of the route controls in Flanders.
However, in practice, only a police officer can determine whether a speeding violation occurred, and not a private company that provides the images. The court also stated that speed cameras must be financed entirely by the local government.
Like many other municipalities in Flanders, Meise collaborated with a private partner to finance the speed cameras. The company also receives a share of the revenue from the fines. This is a perverse incentive, according to traffic experts, such as De Mol, because the more fines, the more profit for that private partner.
But the ruling could also call into question the whole system of average speed checks and how they are currently used, because anyone in any municipality where average speed checks are in place and not entirely paid for by the municipality itself could challenge a GAS fine for speeding.
Study coming soon
Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA) wants to study the ruling thoroughly and, if necessary, amend the regulations on average speed checks, she told TV stations VRT-NWS and VTM. “It is to be expected that there will be further rulings that could also go in this direction,” the minister said. “We are going to look at how we can eliminate the excesses.”
“There are certain contracts where you can ask whether the funds skimmed are being reinvested in road safety, or whether they are mainly lining private pockets. That cannot be the intention,” she added. The minister emphasized that she has already ordered an investigation into average speed checks, which should be complete this summer.
The number of average speed checks in Flanders has increased fivefold in two years: from 246 in 2023 to 1,233 installations this year. By comparison, there are 97 average speed checks in Wallonia and 12 in the Brussels-Capital Region.
At the end of last year, the Flemish Supervisory Committee for the Processing of Personal Data (VTC) already stated that financial motives sometimes play a role in speed checks. The privacy watchdog deduced this from communications from some local authorities, which claim that the investment in smart cameras “pays for itself”. That alone suggests that image processing is ineffective, the VTC warned. “Enforcement serves to reduce violations, not to exploit them.”
The concession agreement signed by Meise stipulates that the company TaaS will receive almost 5.5 million euros from the municipality between 2024 and 2031, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. To reach that amount, 186,000 fines will have to be issued. If that proves impossible, Meise will have to make up the difference.
