A speed marathon for the long -term effect

Even 15 minutes before the official appointment at the Route D’Arlon began, the first car was waved out into the side street. The journalists present curiously observe the commitment, hoping to take a look at the reaction of the caught driver. With visibly grumpy face, he took his ticket and continued after a short exchange.

Apart from the media presence, such a scene for police officers is by no means unusual, but rather everyday life. Because frenzy is one of the mostly reported violations in Road Traffic Luxembourg: Alone In 2024, 383,692 charges were issued by speed camera systems.

« The first driver’s license was withdrawn at half past twelve this morning, » explains Charles Faber from the National Service for Road Traffic and Security at the police. However, the focus is not on spectacular: « It would be spectacular for me if we had no violations today. »

At the end of this week, the police are planning to publish the detailed evaluation of the speed marathon – after all, the radar pictures have to be processed. On site, however, it was already revealed that 22 violations were reported before 8 a.m., eight worse of them with a park of 145 euros each and 14 more of 49 euros each.

Road safety concerns everyone

The police don’t want to trap with the Blitzmarathon Week, emphasizes Faber. Rather, it is about making people think. Frequent controls or actions such as the Speedmarathon want to make it clear that « traffic behavior is not purely individual, but also a social matter, » said Faber.

« Our fellow human beings are involved, in an accident we inevitably change our friends, our family, our roommates, » explains Faber. So his central question: the five minutes saved are really worth it when you consider the risks?

Because excessive speed is one of the main causes of seriousness and fatal traffic accidents across Europe. It not only increases the risk of being involved in an accident at all, but also exacerbates its consequences.

It remains calm at the press date

At the organized checkpoint at the Route d’Arlon, however, it remained somewhat calm: in half an hour in which the press was present, around four cars were stopped due to low speed overruns. Possible reasons are that this year’s speed marathon falls into the Easter holiday season and that it was announced in the media.

« Just as people behave here today shows that the marathon has an effect, » says Faber. But how sustainable this effect is is difficult to measure:. « Of course, I hope that the effect will stay in the long term. But if we only have to report one less than an accident today, that’s a good start. »