More than 130,000 speeding tickets issued to foreign drivers in Denmark have gone uncollected since 2019 due to administrative challenges, including translation requirements and lack of access to European vehicle databases.
Foreign Speeding Violations Left Unpunished
Since 2019, Danish law enforcement agencies have dropped over 130,000 speeding ticket cases involving foreign-registered vehicles, according to newly released data from the Danish National Police. Despite the country’s advanced speed control systems and automatic traffic cameras, enforcement falls through when the driver is not Danish. These cases pile up but are eventually shelved due to logistical and bureaucratic hurdles that prevent authorities from issuing the fines.
When Danish drivers are caught speeding, they almost always receive their fines promptly, often directly in their digital mail inboxes. But for foreign drivers, the process is far more complicated. As a result, thousands of non-resident motorists have avoided paying fines for traffic violations committed on Danish roads.
Challenges in Data Access and Translation
The Danish police rely on a pan-European vehicle information system known as EUCARIS to obtain the identity of foreign vehicle owners. However, the system does not always provide the data Danish authorities need with sufficient accuracy or efficiency. Added to this challenge is the fact that each foreign fine must be translated into the driver’s native language to comply with legal standards in cross-border enforcement.
This combination of administrative tasks quickly becomes overwhelming. Police staff must manually search and process each case, which has become unmanageable given the volume of violations recorded.
The Danish National Police explained that the handling of Automatic Traffic Control (ATK) violations involving foreign vehicles is a time-intensive process that requires individualized lookups in external systems. The volume of incidents has simply outpaced the resources available to deal with them.
Translation Requirement Adds Another Hurdle
Apart from manual database searches, each speeding notice intended for a foreign recipient must be translated into their native language. This is not only to ensure proper legal procedure but also to increase the likelihood of payment and enforcement in the recipient’s country.
However, the translation of thousands of individual documents into dozens of languages requires significant human resources and costs. When authorities must balance priorities, this task often falls to the side, particularly given limited staffing.
Even when a match is found through EUCARIS, the process of issuing, translating, and following up on the ticket remains labor-intensive. This has led to a backlog of cases that the police are unable to follow through on without significant delays, leading many to be formally dropped.
Opportunities to Re-Open Cases
Although these cases have been shelved, they are not necessarily closed forever. According to the Danish Administrative Police Center (PAC), dropped cases may be reopened if new information emerges—such as a traffic stop in Denmark that reveals the identity of a foreign driver who previously committed a speeding offense.
This means that while immediate enforcement has failed in tens of thousands of cases, some delayed accountability may still be possible, albeit rare.
Denmark’s Broader Efforts in Cross-Border Enforcement
Denmark is not alone in struggling with cross-border traffic enforcement. Even within the European Union, cooperation on such issues remains inconsistent and plagued by bureaucratic difficulties. Countries must balance privacy, data protection, and legal fairness while trying to hold foreign drivers accountable for infractions committed abroad.
Despite these challenges, some countries have adopted bilateral agreements to improve enforcement. Denmark, for instance, has agreements with some neighboring countries to facilitate information exchange and fine collection. However, even these systems are far from perfect and rarely cover all EU member states or third countries.
An Estimated Financial Impact
The total financial impact of uncollected fines has not been publicly disclosed, but considering that a standard Danish speeding fine can range from 1,000 to 3,000 kroner ($145 to $435), the uncollected amount could easily exceed 200 million kroner ($29 million) since 2019.
Authorities continue to look for ways to improve enforcement for foreign drivers, but unless legislative changes or technological improvements materialize, the existing gaps in the system may persist.
For now, Denmark’s roads remain a place where foreign drivers often enjoy unintended immunity from a high-tech speeding enforcement system struggling to cross language and border barriers.
