Utrecht to Amsterdam counts for a third of all traffic fines

The average speed check zone on the A2 highway between Utrecht and Amsterdam accounted for 31 percent of all issued speeding fines in the Netherlands last year, with 48 million euros of fines collected from there. A total of 989 thousand people received a speeding fine on that stretch of highway.

This is according to figures from the Central Judicial Collection Agency, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday.

The ANWB explained the high number of fines to the newspaper by saying that the speed limit on that stretch of road may be unclear to many people, these people probably do not realize that they are speeding. Safe Traffic Netherlands called it cryptic road categories. For example, the speed limit between Maarssen and Vinkeveen is 130 kilometers per hour after 7:00 p.m. Then 7 kilometers further, the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour. Most of the fines - 515 thousand - were issued on the small piece between Vinkeveen and Baambrugge, where the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour around the clock.

The Rijkswaterstaat and Public Prosecutor disagree, saying that everything is clearly indicated. The Rijkswaterstaat told the Volkskrant that the speed limit is clearly indicated on the hectometer signs, along with warning signs like "night and day 100" and "average speed check zone". The Public Prosecutor added that it can not be said for certain that the fines were mostly issued after 7:00 p.m. and that many of the fines were issued when the speed limit goes from 100 kilometers per hour to 130 kilometers per hour.