This paper describes the following aspects of the problem, if German state tasks in the road safety context were to be privatised: (1) forms of participation in traffic surveillance work; (2) police personnel requirements; (3) material needs of the police; (4) the rights of citizens; (5) the problems of perceptions; (6) constitutional aspects; and (7) the quality of private service providers. It is concluded that traffic surveillance is a sovereign task, and therefore has to be carried out by those with sovereign jurisdiction. This requirement is also stated in the Work Regulations II of the 27th German Traffic Conference 1989 in Goslar. This document too regards the police, with their personnel and resources, as the only possible option. Up to now, nothing much has changed in this belief, which is held by the vast majority of German traffic lawyers. The use of private companies for the execution of certain technical measurement procedures would perhaps be open to discussion. However, this could only be the case if they were supervised by a government official, with the sufficient knowledge to carry out the measurements himself. The police union regards any form of private sector participation in the traffic surveillance field to be out of the question.
Samenvatting