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Ard van der Steur (Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl/Wikimedia Commons)
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Ard van der Steur (Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl/Wikimedia Commons)
Wednesday, 24 February 2016 - 15:35
Mobile speed traps “rarely” inaccurate say Justice Min.
The police's new mobile speed traps are "rarely" inaccurate, Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice writes in a letter to parliament in response to concerns from police officers and questions from the SP and Groep-Klein, AD reports.
Police officers recently expressed their concerns about numerous inaccurate measurements, especially when it comes to large vehicles such as buses and trucks. It is not unheard of that the new equipment measures buses driving at 185 kilometers per hour or trucks 240 kilometers per hour, according to them. This is caused by reflection of the radar beams.
In his letter to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, Van der Steur admits that this can happen. "When two large vehicles such as buses and trucks pass each other in opposite directions and find themselves in a radar beam at the same time, the measurement can be inaccurate", he writes. This "rarely" occurs, according to him. His spokesperson told the newspaper that this statement is based "on the assumption that it does not often occur that two large vehicles pass a police radar simultaneously."