Facilitating legislation

• Appropriate sanctions
• Measures to support speed enforcement
• Publicity
• Safe and credible speed limits

Facilitating legislation

Legislation is the basis for traffic enforcement. Legislation not only determines what regulations are enforced, but also how they can be enforced. This is particularly true for automatic speed enforcement. In some countries, it is the driver who is legally responsible for an offence (e.g. Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland). This means that the automatic camera has to identify the driver in order to prosecute a violation. Generally, this requires a photograph of both the vehicle number plate and the driver. In other countries, the vehicle owner is held responsible for an offence (e.g. Belgium, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom). In these countries, a photograph of the licence plate from the rear is sufficient. This is technically easier and less expensive. An additional benefit of the vehicle owner being responsible is that also speeding motorcyclists can be fined.