New point-to-point speed trap near Utrecht a first for Dutch provincial roadways

The first average speed control cameras are now active on a Dutch provincial road - on the N414 between Baarn and Bunschoten. Another 19 provincial roads will also get point-to-point speed traps this year, in an effort to reduce the number of accidents on these roads, NOS reports.

"Two cameras on either side of a certain route measure exactly how long someone takes on the route," Achilles Damen of the Landelijk Verkeersparket said to NOS. "The system then calculates how fast someone drove on average on this route."

According to Damen, the N414 between Baarn and Bunschoten was chosen as the first provincial road to get average speed control cameras, because "systematic speeding" causes many accidents here. "Fourteen serious accidents happened here last year, with five injured and one dead, and we want that to go down to zero."

Measurements taken before the cameras were installed showed that 65 percent of traffic drove faster on the N414 than the permitted 80 kilometers per hour. 28 percent of traffic drove faster than 87 kilometers per hour, the speed at which fines start being issued - 4 kilometers per hour over the speed limit after a measurement correction of 3 kilometers per hour.

A study by travelers' association ANWB last year showed that provincial roads are the most dangerous roads in the Netherlands. Six percent of the Netherlands' roads are labeled provincial roads. And 20 percent of road accident fatalities happen on provincial roads.