Camera scanning vehicles result in big jump in parking fines

The use of camera scanning vehicles by municipalities to issue parking fines resulted in a spectacular increase in the number of such fines. The number of issued fines jumped by dozens of percentage points in many municipalities after they started using these scanning vehicles, AD reports based on figures requested from large Dutch municipalities.

These scanning vehicles drive past parking places and record the license plates of all cars parked there. A few minutes later, the scanning vehicle drives by again. Cars still parked there without paying a parking fee are then fined almost fully automatically.

Before Amsterdam started using scanning vehicles in 2013, the Dutch capital issued 18.5 million euros in parking fines. Last year Amsterdam issued nearly 30 million euros in parking fines, an increase of 61 percent. Before using scanning vehicles, Rotterdam issued 177,895 parking fines in 2014. In 2016 that increased by 86 percent to 330,326, before dropping by 6 percent to 310,684 in 2017. AD did not receive more recent figures from Rotterdam.

Delft saw a 26 percent increase in paring fines, Utrecht saw an increase of 17.5 percent. In The Hague, the parking fines increased by half. Tilburg told the newspaper that its issued fines tripled since it started using scanning vehicles.

Motorists also seem to be more wiling to pay parking fees, now that the scanning vehicles make it more likely that they will be caught, according to AD. In Utrecht for example, the willingness to pay parking increased from 71 percent in 2016 to 84 percent last year.