Traffic Police Unit The Hague Issues 70 Fines for Holding Mobile Phones While Driving

Gebied: Den Haag

As a driver, being busy with your phone while your attention should be fully on the road is not acceptable. In October, the Traffic Police of the Den Haag Unit conducted several checks on the roads.

Roadpol is a European cooperation of 29 European police forces, including the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. This control coincides with the Dutch campaign I drive MONO, which encourages road users to travel without distraction from their smartphones.

Covert Monitoring

Therefore, on Thursday, October 9, the Traffic Police team set out early in a coach. From a coach, you can see much more than from a car. This way, it is easy and unobtrusive to look into the cabins of trucks, vans, and cars. If an offender is spotted from the bus, one of the follow cars or motorcycles is deployed to ticket them. The fine for holding a mobile device has been 430 euros since the beginning of this year. The reason this fine is so high is due to the hundreds of traffic victims that occur annually in Dutch traffic.

Distraction from your phone or other electronic devices can lead to dangerous situations or accidents. Texting or using your phone while driving is estimated to cause dozens of traffic deaths and hundreds of injuries in the Netherlands each year, with the risk of accidents increasing 2.5 times when reading or typing messages. Although it is not possible to attribute an exact number of deaths to phone use, it is a well-known cause of distraction, leading to missed signs, slower reactions, and dangerous situations, says Jacco Klapwijk, traffic officer with the Traffic Police Unit The Hague.

Results of the Control

The operation resulted in 70 stops and fines for holding a mobile phone while driving. This was observed from the moving coach or by the unobtrusive vehicles that were driving around the coach. Various road users were also stopped for the following offenses: