Now that it is quieter on the road and the emergency services have various other tasks than normal, many drivers think they can and can make more. Nonsense of course and the chance of getting caught is certainly not less than normal. Many more drivers than usual have recently been able to hand in their driving license.
When the corona measures were introduced, Belgium was already warned that rest on the road was not a license for speeding. Although the Flemish police would check less and even turn off speed cameras, they urged people not to abuse them. Here in the Netherlands there was no concrete indication to expect comparable situations and it now appears that the police are indeed still on edge. According to the AD in any case in the east of the Netherlands, the police effort for speed checks is still about the same. The result: in the past weeks, three times as many driving licenses were collected in that region as normal.
It seems that various drivers feel more free than usual on the roads. The open roads invite to drive faster and it seems that the police still check less. According to traffic psychologist Gerard Tertoolen, these road abusers are especially noticeable now. The quiet roads are taking more extreme risks: “If you drive 130 km / h on a road where you are allowed to drive 100, you will not notice that. Now they drive 160 km / h on a 100-road, the invigilators of the police, of course. What they forget is that they stand out now more than ever. ” At Easter alone it led to roughly 40 seizures of driving licenses in the east of the country.