At the start of 2024, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia realigned their strategy for greater safety on the roads, cycle paths and freeways. #LIFE now stands for our efforts to reduce traffic accidents and their sometimes serious consequences.

Lack of respect for life

Driving too fast, not keeping enough distance, errors when turning, distractions, an aggressive driving style, overconfidence, alcohol and drug consumption, lack of consideration, lack of respect for life - these are the causes and issues that we are working on in our city with increased checks and will also stop and speak to offenders even more frequently after violations.

Our goal is to bring about a change in behavior in road traffic. In this way, we want to prevent serious and fatal accidents and protect vulnerable road users, i.e. children, senior citizens and cyclists.

Speed cameras possible at any time and any place

Speed checks continue to be an important aspect of this. Even though we have published some possible checkpoints with the daily speed camera reports, the exact check times at these locations remain uncertain. We have also always made it clear that numerous other checkpoints throughout the city are manned on a daily basis:

Road users must expect unpredictable checks at any time and in any place. After all, inappropriate speeding on freeways, main roads, country roads and city streets is still one of the most common causes of accidents, including fatal ones.

"Tickets" yes, but above all conversations

During the checks, police officers will not only punish the violations found with fines or charges. Instead, they want to talk to citizens and promote understanding and insight. The personal conversation is an important building block in order to achieve a lasting change in thinking among the drivers caught and to change their driving behavior in the future.