The police authorities in the Netherlands have recently issued a statement that in 2007 a record number of fines for speeding offences will be realised. The year 2007 will set a record of 10 million speeding fines, 71.5 percent for the smallest violations: driving 4-10 kilometres over the speed limit. Compared with 2006, the number of such fines is set to increase by 828,000. Police made this estimate based on figures of October 2007 and expects the number of fines to stabilise or decline slightly in 2008 after years of increase.

Almost three quarters of the 10 million tickets were for driving between four and 10 kilometres per hour above the limit. In the Netherlands there are seven million drivers, and everybody speeds sometimes, so this just means that every driver has a chance to be caught a little more than once a year. Some drivers are ticketed frequently while others manage to escape the fines.

The police in the Netherlands is very proud to show the increasing number of fines, while all drivers in the Netherlands know that the Dutch government policy is only based to get a lot of money out of the people’s pockets just for the sake to increase government’s income. Speeding tickets are often given automatically by a system of cameras that covers the country's roads. The cameras are linked to a database of licence plate information, and the driver receives the ticket in the mail without ever seeing a police officer.

The average fine is about EUR 19,-- which shows the nonsense of the present system and the fines madness in such a small country as the Netherlands. A great number of policemen and policewomen are questioning the system as illegal and not correct. While more police time is really needed to stop the increasing crime rate in the Netherlands, the policemen and women are jeopardizing their career if at the end of the working day they are not able to produce enough issued fines.

In sub-Saharan Africa road traffic accidents are known to be a major cause of death and disability. Bad roads, aged vehicles and lax regulations are all considered major contributing factors to Africa's road fatality and accident numbers. Roads like for example Douala to Yaoundé in Cameroon, Nairobi to Mombasa and Accra to Kumasi causing every week a lot of deaths by accidents, because of speeding or driving deficiency in the quality of local drivers. Accidents in Africa are also caused by the absence of effective road safety policies and laws.

The fundamental economics of African travel is that the transport operators' income is determined by maximizing passenger kilometers. The more passengers, the faster the speed, the more money earned. The economics of transport in Africa thus encourages speed and overloading. The African highways do not meet current highway geometric standards, there are no posted speed limits and the conditions of the pavement are often very poor.

It is said that in the UK careless drivers face jail sentences, while in Kenya, a modest court fine could end a long legal process that began with the deaths of many. Then there is poverty under the African policemen and policewomen. Governments can not pay the law enforcers well, so they become corrupt when checking cars and passengers. While Dutch police are looking at ways to improve their job position through increasing speeding tickets, the policemen and policewomen in Africa are looking for illegal payments through corruption on the bad roads of Africa.

The madness system of catching speedy drivers in the Netherlands for speeding less then 10 kilometres per hour should be stopped. The available energy should be spent on helping African authorities to introduce speed management techniques in order to improve changes in driving behaviour in Africa. Why not inviting African Ministers of Transport to the Netherlands in order to realise enforcement of systems in traffic and highway safety in Africa? Much more road accidents in Africa will then be avoided, less corruption on the roads of Africa and less nonsense with the system of automatic speedy control in The Netherlands.

Keywords: kenya cameroon ghana travel development society