Average speed checks in the Netherlands: locations, tolerance and fines

What you need to do

On a route with an average speed check, keep to the speed limit along its entire length, in every lane and on the hard shoulder too. Always assume the system is on: according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), you cannot tell from the outside whether a system is working, and the equipment is normally always switched on. The OM therefore puts the chance of being caught at 100%. If you are towing a trailer or driving a bus or lorry, watch your own, lower limit: the system recognises it.

If you later receive a letter from the CJIB, the Dutch central fine collection agency, pay within 8 weeks. If in doubt, first check your photo in the CJIB digital portal.

How does an average speed check work?

With an average speed check, cameras are mounted at several measuring points along the road. These cameras record every vehicle. The time a vehicle takes between 2 measuring points shows its average speed. If that is higher than the speed limit, the registered keeper is sent a fine at home. Both the OM and the Dutch government say so.

The difference from a fixed speed camera is that measurement does not happen at one point. Braking briefly at a camera is pointless. The OM expressly describes average speed checks as a supplement to existing checks, such as speed cameras, laser guns, mobile radar equipment and video surveillance, not a replacement for them.

A few practical points:

• Day and night. According to the OM, the system enforces both by day and at night, and at weekends too.
• All lanes. The check works in all lanes and recognises vehicles changing lanes. The Dutch government adds that the cameras also cover the hard shoulder.
• All vehicles. Motorcyclists are measured in the same way as cars. For lorries, buses and cars towing trailers, the system uses dimensions and/or the number plate to see that a different speed limit applies, for example 80 or 90 km/h. According to the Dutch government, many lorries may never exceed 90 km per hour.
• Privacy. According to the Dutch government, the cameras may only be used to record speeding offences.

Routes with several sections

Some average speed checks consist of different sections. According to the OM, this is down to the road layout: there are usually junctions with slip roads along the route. For the check, it makes no difference whether you drive the whole route or only part of it. The cameras record your average speed per section.

This has three consequences:

• If you speed in 1 section, a fine follows, even if you stay under the limit in the next section. So you cannot make up for excessive speed at the start by driving more slowly further on.
• If you speed in several sections, the owner still receives only 1 fine. It is calculated on the section where the highest speed was driven.
• The shortest distance over which an average speed is calculated is at least 200 metres.

Where are they?

According to the OM, there are 63 average speed systems in total on Dutch roads, spread over 31 locations. For the N roads, the OM states that the checks operate in both directions.

Motorways

The OM mentions, among others, the A20 in Rotterdam, between Kleinpolderplein and Terbregseplein, and the N62 in the Westerschelde Tunnel. The CJIB overviews for 2024 also list average speed checks on the A2 between Amsterdam and Utrecht, the A2 near Maastricht, the A4 near Hoofddorp and Nieuw Vennep, the A4 near Leidschendam, the A10 western ring road near Amsterdam, the A12 between The Hague and Voorburg, the A12 near Utrecht and the A13 near Rotterdam.

New in 2026:

• A12 between Zoetermeer and Nootdorp. The OM announced this new average speed check in January 2026.
• A7 between Hoorn and Purmerend. According to the OM, this system was switched on on Tuesday 20 January 2026. Drivers travelling from Hoorn to Purmerend are recorded between kilometre marker 28.1 and 19.0. During the test phase, according to the OM, roughly one in six drivers was speeding here.

Note a discrepancy between sources. The OM wrote that the system in the Purmerend to Hoorn direction was not yet on and was expected to be switched on during 2026. However, the CJIB overview for the second four-month period of 2026 already lists 18857 offences on the A7 from Purmerend to Hoorn. So assume you can be checked in both directions.

N roads

According to the OM, average speed checks have been installed in phases on 20 N roads since 2020:

• Flevoland: N706, Vogelweg, between the A27 and Lelystad Airport.
• Fryslân: N351 between Wolvega and Oosterwolde, N381 between Drachten and Donkerbroek.
• Gelderland: N325 in Arnhem (Pleyroute), N787 between Brummen and Eerbeek.
• Limburg: N275 between Blerick and Nederweert, N564 between Weert and the Belgian border, N277 between Ysselsteyn and Vredepeel, N270 between Venray and Ysselsteyn.
• North Holland: N201 near Uithoorn, N205 between the N207 and the N232, N9 between Burgervlotbrug and St. Maartensvlotbrug.
• North Brabant: N260 in Tilburg, N639 between Chaam and Baarle-Nassau.
• Overijssel: N333 between Steenwijk and Blokzijl.
• Utrecht: N230, the provincial section of the Zuilense Ring, and N414 between Eembrugge and Bunschoten.
• Zeeland: N253, Sluis ring road, and N256, Zeeland Bridge.
• South Holland: N11 between Alphen aan den Rijn and Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk.

Here too the sources differ on one point: the OM places the N706 between the A27 and Lelystad Airport, whereas the CJIB lists offences for 2026 on the N706 between the N302 and Almere Hout.

Which tolerance is applied?

As with other speed checks, the police deduct a measurement tolerance from the measured speed. According to the OM page on average speed checks:

• for speed limits up to 100 km/h: a correction of 3 km/h;
• above that: a correction of 3% of the measured speed;
• for limits up to and including 120 km/h there is also a threshold: you are fined from 4 km/h over the limit, after the correction.

The OM page on margins and measurement corrections puts it slightly differently: 3 kilometres below 100 km/h and 3 per cent above 100 km/h. The OM gives this example: on a road with a 120 km/h limit, the equipment measures 128 km/h. The police correct by 4 km, namely 3% of 128, and the driver is fined for 4 km over the limit.

The correction is there to establish with certainty that someone was speeding. It is not extra leeway to count on.

What are the fines?

The OM publishes fixed amounts per speed in its Boetebase. There you can work out the fine for a speeding offence yourself, including via the offence code and vehicle category. The OM warns that the amounts shown exclude €9 in administration costs.

Serious speeding goes beyond a fine. According to the OM, such an offence leads to a hefty fine or a court summons:

• For speeding by 50 kilometres or more, the police confiscate your driving licence if you are stopped. The OM or the court then decides how long it is withheld.
• For a large excess, the CBR, the Dutch driving licence authority, investigates your physical or mental fitness to drive a motor vehicle. The CBR can declare the licence permanently invalid, in addition to the court’s sentence.

How do you pay the fine?

With an average speed check you are not stopped: the fine comes by post. According to the CJIB, the process is as follows:

1. The letter. You receive a letter with a letter M in the top right corner. It states the offence and the amount. The letter goes to the owner of the car or motorcycle used to commit the offence.
2. Payment. You must pay the fine within 8 weeks. You pay the administration costs once.
3. Reminders. If you do not pay on time or in full, up to two reminders follow. The first is one and a half times the fine, the second three times. In the CJIB example, a fine of €50 becomes €75 at the first reminder and €150 at the second.
4. Transfer. If you live in an EU country, the CJIB passes the case to that country, which will then try to collect the fine.
5. Wanted register. If the case cannot be transferred to another EU country, your name goes on the Dutch wanted register. Police or customs can then stop you in the Netherlands and you must pay on the spot. If you do not, they can seize your vehicle.

Foreign number plates

According to the Dutch government, the Netherlands works with 11 other member states of the European Union and with Switzerland. Traffic offenders from those countries are sent the fine at home if they speed in each other’s countries. Germany, France, Belgium and Poland are among them. The CJIB reports that the number of offenders with a foreign number plate fell slightly in 2023, from 874,539 to 872,368, and that most came from Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Romania and Spain.

Exceptions and errors

• System temporarily off. Road or maintenance works sometimes mean a system cannot enforce temporarily. You cannot see this from outside, so never count on it.
• Wrong classification. Every vehicle is assigned to a vehicle category. According to the OM, in a very small number of cases the classification or number plate recognition is wrong. The system may then apply the wrong speed limit or send the penalty notice to another registered keeper.
• Doubt. Check your photo in the CJIB digital portal. If the check used police equipment, the CJIB says you can find the calibration reports, often labelled NMi declaration, on politie.nl under the relevant police unit.

Checklist before you set off

• Check whether your route uses any of the motorways or N roads listed, including the A7 and the A12 with their new systems.
• Know your own limit: with a trailer, bus or lorry a lower speed limit often applies, for example 80 or 90 km/h.
• Assume the system is on, day and night, in every lane and on the hard shoulder.
• Keep to the limit in every section; slowing down later makes up for nothing.
• Do not treat the measurement tolerance as leeway.
• If you receive a letter with a letter M, pay within 8 weeks and allow for €9 in administration costs.
• If in doubt, first check your photo in the CJIB digital portal.