Last year, around 330,000 speeders were caught on the revealing images of speed cameras.
Of the 250,000 cases that could be investigated, only 42 percent were prosecuted, new figures from the police show.
– We need to be able to identify the driver of the vehicle and we are not always able to do that, says Lis-Marie Svonni, police inspector and acting head of section at the police’s ATK section.
2,400 speed cameras adorn our Swedish roads and in 2022 over 300,000 speeders were caught on the lens.
But that does not mean that the police issued expensive fines to all, quite the opposite. Last year, just under half of all traffic offense cases linked to speed cameras were prosecuted.
And the explanation is quite simple – in Sweden, driver responsibility prevails. This means that the driver must be able to be identified in order to receive the consequences.
– And it is not simple. We need sufficient evidence for traffic offenses and prosecution. If we don’t have that, the driver will not be able to be prosecuted, says Lis-Marie Svonni.
80,000 cannot be investigated
In the event of a speeding incident, the police first and foremost search their own records in the hope of identifying the driver via a Swedish passport and driver’s license. But it doesn’t always succeed, says Svonni.
One reason could be that more and more people lease cars and that it becomes difficult to get hold of the owner. Another is that the car owner does not want to state who was driving the car at the time of the speeding.
– We can only ask for help from the driver, we cannot demand it. They have no obligations to that, says Lis-Marie Svonni.
Then there are also the speeding that cannot be investigated, which was about 80,000 last year.
– We cannot investigate non-Nordic drivers. And we also don’t have a system that can investigate motorbikes, as the camera only shoots from the front and motorbikes have the license plate at the back, says Lis-Marie Svonni.
“Acceptance has increased”
But the police think they see a positive trend. In 2021, the proportion of legal traffic violations was 38 percent, compared to 42 percent in 2022.
– Acceptance of our cameras has increased. And if the public understands the purpose of the cameras, we also believe that people are more helpful or think it is important to reduce the speed, says Lis-Marie Svonni.
And according to her, many people misunderstand the purpose of the cameras and believe that they are only there to fine speeders.
– The purpose is to help, certainly not the other way around. The higher the speeds on the roads, the more accidents. The cameras are placed visibly and speeds are well signposted so that everyone can drive legally, says Svonni.
– The goal for us is to reduce the speed on our most accident-prone roads and to reduce the number of deaths.