Penalties for wrong-parking and speeding Top spots for fines imposed in Bonn
Bonn · Despite the pandemic, the lockdown and the obligation to work from home, the City of Bonn again imposed fines in the million Euro last year. The number of speeders even increased. A look at the places where speeders and parking violators were caught most often.
The City of Bonn collected more than 6.5 million Euro in fines for traffic offences last year. This is according to figures published by the city on fines and warnings for speeding and traffic violations. They include both the violations from city inspections and those of the police. The total amount of fines decreased slightly compared to the previous year. In 2020, when they amounted to 6.7 million Euro. The revenue is due in full to the city of Bonn and flows into the city budget. However, they are not earmarked there.
Accordingly, 4.5 million Euro of the fines from 2021 are for speeding offences and two million Euro for parking offences. Of the total of 278,000 offences, 168,000 were speeding offences and 110,000 were parking offences.
Where speeding was most prevalent
The speed camera on Ludwig-Erhard-Allee, which the city installed in 2020 at the level of Herbert-Wehner-Platz, was the most frequent speed camera. Drivers were flashed more than 31,000 times in both directions, and fines totalling 790,000 Euro were imposed. Second place was taken by the speed camera in the Godesberg road tunnel. More than 25,000 speeders were caught here in both directions. The amount of the fines was 697,000 Euro. About 10,000 speeding tickets were issued on Reuterstraße near Renoisstraße. The amount of the fines here was 244,000 Euro. The speed camera on Konrad-Adenauer-Damm came in fourth with 9700 speed cameras and 230,000 Euro. The most successful day from the point of view of the regulatory authorities was 2 June. Mobile speed cameras caught 815 speeders and brought in 24,000 Euro. The highest fine was 2040 Euro. On the B9 in the direction of Remagen, a traffic offender was caught on 4 May 2021 with more than 70 kilometres per hour over the limit. According to the catalogue of fines, two points and a three-month driving ban are added to the fine.
More speeding during the Corona period
It is noticeable that speeding offences have increased significantly during the Corona pandemic. Compared to 2019, the number of offences increased by a whopping 15 per cent, and the amount of fines imposed on speeders rose by more than 700,000 Euro. With the corona-induced decrease in traffic, the number of speeding offences did not decrease, according to the report. "The opposite was the case. Unfortunately, some drivers, not only in Bonn, took advantage of the emptier roads to step on the accelerator," says ADAC spokesman Thomas Müther. "But the police also noticed this quickly and intensified the mobile checks." The city assumes that other factors play a role. For example, the two new speed cameras installed in 2020 at Konrad-Adenauer-Damm and Ludwig-Erhard-Allee contribute to more violations being punished. In addition, the city administration cites longer construction work in the Godesberg road tunnel, which brought about a speed limit of 30 km/h, as a reason. Semi-stationary checks (e.g. with trailers) have also been extended.
Corona has had an effect on parking violations
The situation is different for parking violations in Bonn. They decreased significantly compared to the time before the pandemic, falling by 35 percent. As expected, a particularly large number of parking tickets were written in the city centre. The city counted about 1,680 offences around Stiftsplatz and issued tickets amounting to almost 25,000 Euro. Around the Hofgarten, the city collected about 30,000 Euro in fines from parking violators, and in Villichgasse it was also 25,000 Euro.
According to Müther, the parking situation had eased, among other things, due to the absence of commuters. The city also assumes that the pandemic and home office duty have led to a decrease in parking violations. In addition, there were apparently fewer checks. According to the city, the city's enforcement service at times focused on controlling the requirements of the Infection Protection Act. However, the city does not expect the decline to continue. "It can be assumed that the number of traffic violations will soon rise again to the previous level," a spokeswoman said.
Finding a parking space is likely to become more difficult in the future anyway. "The parking issue will become more and more acute in cities like Bonn," ADAC spokesman Müther estimates the situation. "The municipalities see parking space management as one of the main adjusting screws in the mobility turnaround." In doing so, they are relying on increasing parking fees. The ADAC sees a particular problem with delivery traffic. The negative effects of the rapidly growing delivery traffic should be mitigated by digital delivery zone management, as cities like Stuttgart and Wiesbaden are doing. Here, delivery services could book times in delivery zones to prevent traffic jams and second-row parking when making deliveries.
