Minister Refuses to Follow Advice
Justice Minister David van Weel (VVD) does not intend to lower traffic fines all at once or allow them to become more expensive less quickly. In doing so, the outgoing minister is ignoring advice from the Public Prosecution Service (OM). The OM believes that traffic fines have become far too high compared to other fines.
In a report, the OM writes that this can be resolved by lowering all traffic fines by 30 percent at once or by not increasing fines for a number of years – as is customary – to allow them to rise equally with the inflation rate. Both measures would cost the ministry 300 million euros annually, Van Weel calculates. He considers that financial gap too large.
The OM also believes that the fines for lighter offenses such as running a red light are too high compared to the fines for more serious offenses, such as speeding excessively. Rectifying this would cost 60 million euros annually, and the minister also considers that too much.