Be careful, speed trap!
Speed camera marathon in Germany: These federal states are taking part
A police officer measures the speed of cars with a laser gun in a 30 speed zone
© Patrick Pleul / DPA
It has been a tradition for years: the speed camera marathon in spring. But can speedsters be stopped this way? Some federal states swear by it – others don’t.
In several federal states, drivers have to pay particular attention to speed cameras on the side of the road on Friday: The police are primarily carrying out speed checks in Bavaria, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg. The speed measurements are part of the Speed camera marathons, with which the police want to combat speeding as one of the main causes of accidents.
In Bavaria alone, the Ministry of the Interior has announced that it wants to be active with 2,000 police officers and municipal employees at up to 1,500 measuring points. In total, there are thousands of speed traps in Germany.
“Speed that is too high and inappropriate is one of the main causes of serious traffic accidents. 125 people died in speeding accidents on Bavaria’s roads last year,” said Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). “These terrible fates could have been avoided. Our lightning marathon is therefore intended to wake people up to strictly adhere to the speed limits. Our aim is not to send out as many fine notices as possible,” emphasized the politician.
Flashlight storms in Bavaria: Southern Germany takes the speed camera marathon particularly seriously
However, opinions about the impact of such actions are divided. Berlin, Bremen, Saarland and Saxony are not participating. In Berlin it was argued that the impact of previous actions was hardly measurable. In Baden-Württemberg, on the other hand, people are convinced of the usefulness of the control operation with a total of several thousand police officers: “Even a few kilometers per hour too fast can make the difference between life and death,” says the Ministry of the Interior there.
In Bavaria, 8,690 speeding offenders were caught last year – even though the measuring points had been announced beforehand, as the Interior Ministry announced. The highest value was achieved by a driver on a state road near Freising – he was measured at 155 kilometers per hour instead of the permitted 60.