“If I had kept to the speed limit, I could have stopped in time,” quotes Newspaper from the letter. This emotional approach comes from the Flemish Traffic Science Foundation. This foundation discovered through research that a fine alone has no effect on driving behavior.
Responding to conscience
A cover letter with rational arguments already turned out to have some effect, but responding to the conscience turned out to work a lot better. A quarter of the drivers had their intention to drive too fast after seeing a letter with a personal testimony.
This concerns a letter from a traffic offender who has caused a fatal accident. The letter contains a fierce, anonymous story of a speed racer.
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Making people think
“If we want to do something about road safety, it’s not just about fines,” said Minister of Justice Vincent van Quickenborne to the Belgian newspaper. “It’s mainly about getting people to think about the consequences of dangerous driving. This personal letter accompanying the fine is a very direct way to do this. “In the Netherlands, there are no plans yet to adopt the Belgian method.
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