Why the higher penalties don't impress all speeders

The reform of the catalog of fines for road traffic last year only led to a change in behavior among some drivers. This is indicated by a survey commissioned by insurers' accident research and presented in Berlin. According to this, more than half of the motorists surveyed admitted that, despite the increased fines, they do not adhere to speed limits more often than before.

Speed ​​measurements by insurers in Munich and Hamburg show that the number of times the speed limit has been exceeded has fallen. The traffic researchers do not attribute this solely to the new fines.

At the beginning of November 2021, the new catalog of fines came into force after a long political struggle. Since then, for example, if you exceed the speed limit by 16 to 20 km/h in built-up areas, you have to pay 70 euros, previously it was 35 euros. The fines for other violations were sometimes doubled; 11 to 15 km/h too much, for example, now costs 50 euros.

Responsible for the increase was Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU), whose original draft law had provided for harsher penalties. However, the law was subsequently weakened, so that the thresholds for points in Flensburg (from 21 km/h violation in town) and driving bans (from 31 km/h) did not change.

The speed measurements in Hamburg and Munich, at around 80 points over a period of 24 hours each, showed that the number of speeding violations has sometimes fallen significantly compared to similar measurements in 2017.

For example, 46 percent fewer drivers drove too fast on 50 km/h routes in Hamburg than five years ago. In Munich it was 34 percent less. In Tempo 30 zones, the number of violations fell by 26 percent in Munich and by 36 percent in Hamburg.

"We were very surprised that the decline in Hamburg was so strong," said Siegfried Brockmann, head of accident research at the insurers. The reason is not just the higher fines, but above all the stronger surveillance.

Unlike Munich, Hamburg has significantly increased the number of speed cameras. In addition to permanently installed systems, such as at traffic lights, the city has been increasingly using mobile speed cameras for several years. From the point of view of the transport researchers, this growing pressure to control leads to the clear difference between the cities.

However, even increased controls do not persuade all motorists to always drive according to the regulations. "A good quarter believe that it is rather unlikely that one will be caught," concludes Brockmann from the results of the survey that Civey carried out on behalf of the insurers in October and November.

One in five respondents admitted to using speedcam apps to avoid getting caught in speed cameras. Then there are the speed camera reports on the radio.

Brockmann is particularly concerned about the apps that are illegal in Germany: He considers them to be “dangerous to traffic and possibly also immoral”. He advises that politicians should try to prevent the apps from being downloaded via the platform operators.

The municipalities would certainly like that, because they are among the winners of the fine reform. This is indicated by many reports from individual cities. A survey by the MDR among the eight largest cities in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia showed that the municipalities take in significantly more money - also because the number of traffic tickets there has not fallen. According to the MDR, Magdeburg, for example, received as many fines this year by August as in the entire previous year.

However, the traffic researchers cannot prove that the higher fines have a direct impact on the number of accidents – because there are too many other factors in the calculation. "The fact that an accident happens at all depends on the speed," said Brockmann.

Overall, the number of traffic accidents increased again this year, albeit at a lower level than in 2019. In the Corona years 2020 and 2021 there were fewer traffic accidents because Germans drove less cars during the lockdown and home office regulations .

According to the survey, the sharp rise in petrol prices this year had little impact on the speeds driven in cities. But yes, on the freeway. For example, 40 percent of motorists said that they drive more slowly on the freeway because of higher fuel prices.

In urban areas and on country roads, less than a third slowed down to save fuel. And around half of those surveyed never drive slower than before, despite high prices.

Where speed alone is not the problem - but a speed that is not adapted to the situation. As the speed measurements show, cars drive faster on 50 km/h routes, especially when the distances between the cars increase and when there is a second lane in the same direction.

Of course, the throngs in the morning and evening rush hours prevent people from driving too fast at all. The bottom line is that 12.4 percent of all cars on the examined 50 km/h roads in Munich drove faster than 55 km/h, in Hamburg it was 10.5 percent. According to the measurements, very few cars drove faster than 70 km/h: 0.4 percent in both cities.

Brockmann attributes this, among other things, to the impending penalties: exceeding the prescribed speed of 21 km/h threatens a point in the traffic offender file of the Federal Motor Transport Authority. Drivers are well aware of this threshold, says the traffic researcher.

"The entry of points in the driving aptitude register is a very effective threat," he says. It has a stronger effect than fines. The insurers are therefore calling for the catalog of fines to be revised again - and for points to be awarded earlier.

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