The National Public Prosecutors Office in The Netherlands on Monday announced that it had ordered the refund of 9298 speed camera tickets because the agency was unable to guarantee the accuracy of the automated speed readings. Recipients of citations issued between April 23 and May 9 on the A12 in Arnhem will receive a letter from the Central Fine Collection Agency (CJIB) dismissing the notice of violation and providing a check repaying any amounts collected.

"We do not want to risk people wrongly receiving a ticket," Traffic Bureau Chief Peter Muijen said in a statement.

The automated ticketing machines located on the A12 use a time-distance calculation to estimate the average speed of each passing vehicles. A set of cameras hanging overhead photograph cars as they enter one section of the highway. Further down the road, a second set of cameras photographs the cars a second time and calculates how long it took for each to travel the given distance. Twelve such systems are currently operational in The Netherlands. The Arnhem cameras issue tickets for anyone exceeding the 100km/h (62 MPH) speed limit by just 7km/h (4 MPH).

Although the system records the movements of every passing vehicle in order to function, officials insist privacy is protected.

"Road users who observe the speed limit have nothing to fear," the Traffic Bureau website states.

In this case, officials blamed a "maintenance" failure for producing unreliable readings that wrongly accused road users who were observing the speed limit. After performing repairs, ticketing has resumed on the Arnhem stretch of the A12.