Prosecutor wants more cops on the road to tackle traffic violators

The Netherlands needs more police officers on the roads to tackle traffic violators, national traffic prosecutor Achilles Damen said to the Telegraaf. According to him, direct confrontation between violators and officers is the most effective way to reduce violations.

"Now with speeding for example, you get a ticket in the mail about two weeks later and you don't even remember that you were driving to fast", Damen said to the newspaper. "Instant confrontation works much better and prevents recurrence." More officers on the roads mean a bigger chance of being pulled over.

Damen is particularly concerned about drunk drivers. "Per year the number of drunk drivers, despite campaigns, still does not decrease.There are still 40 thousand offenders each year. It's weird that people still crawl behind the wheel with alcohol." He believes this shows that the risk of being caught is not big enough.

Damen understands that the police capacity is low and that choices need to be made. But he hopes that priority will be given to traffic violations. "We are again dealing with an increase in the number of victims. From 570 to 621 deaths last year."