An expansion in the independent and autonomous transfer of traffic surveillance tasks to the private sector is to be repudiated on constitutional grounds, since the current apparatus for prosecuting traffic offenses in the Federal Republic of Germany is fair and sufficient. If there is any doubt, traffic surveillance by the police is the preferred option, since their procedures, competency and neutrality is more readily accepted by car drivers than the municipal checks. These checks are often marred by the suspicion of financial benefit. The task of the German Automobile Association (ADAC), as the representative of the interests of 13.2 million road users in Germany, is: to observe the practice of traffic surveillance carefully, and to provide the necessary criticism; not to protect speed maniacs and freaks and safeguard them from the punishment they deserve, but to guarantee a legal, faultless procedure whose content and consequences are understood and accepted by car drivers. This because the process of monitoring traffic flows is not an end in itself, nor is it intended to produce financial gain, but it should serve exclusively to improve road safety. (A)
Abstract