German police on Friday launched a 'speed camera marathon' in eight federal states in an attempt to combat speeding on high-risk roads.
"Our checks focus on areas where the risk of accidents due to speeding is greatest or where speeding is frequent," said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.
"In urban areas, these are mostly roads in front of schools and kindergartens, and outside urban areas mainly rural roads, where a disproportionately high number of serious road accidents occur due to excessive speed," he said.
The campaign first took place in North Rhine Westphalia in 2012 and has since been replicated across Europe, with the European Roads Policing Network (ROADPOL) introducing an annual pan-European enforcement operation in 2015.
In Bavaria alone, 2,000 police officers and municipal employees were to be deployed over a 24-hour period. A quarter of all road deaths in the southern German state are due to high speeds, Herrmann said.
Police forces in Berlin and several other regions declined to participate, arguing that the impact of previous campaigns was insignificant.
Herrmann reminded drivers in a statement that even small reductions in speed could have consequences: "Just a few kilometres per hour too fast can be the difference between life and death."
