Drivers speeding past a speed trap lead to the device's failure.
In Rotterdam, a speed radar has been put up near a highway reconstruction area, asking drivers to slow down. However, so many motorists are breezing past the radar that it has given up.
A representative from the prosecutor's office in Rotterdam's port city informed RTL about the issue. A viaduct on the A16 is undergoing reconstruction, thus the lanes have narrowed and the speed limit has been dropped to 70 km/h. The frequency of cars being flagged wasn't an issue for the mobile radar, but the system couldn't cope with the high number of speed violators.
The bridge renovation on the A16 has caused a highway section to have a 70 km/h speed limit for a while. Many commuters seem to have not yet adjusted to the new speed limit, according to officials.
"We might have turned on the radar trap a bit too early," the spokesperson said. The flood of flashed cars and the technical issues caused the radar trap to be switched off after some days. "Our goal is not to issue as many fines as possible," the prosecutor's office spokesperson explained. The fines that were issued over the past few days have been returned, and there are now more signs to remind drivers to reduce their speed. In the Netherlands, for exceeding the speed limit of a car on the highway by 20 km/h, 175 euros is the fine.
The radar trap has been turned back on. "By this time, the road users have got used to the new situation," the spokesperson commented. As of recent tests, there has been a significant decline in the number of speeding violations.
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In response to the high speeding incidents, the Dutch police planned to deploy an international traffic monitoring system on the Freeway A16. Despite the deployment, many drivers continued to defy the reduced speed limit, causing the system to malfunction due to the overwhelming number of violations.
