ROTTERDAM, 4 December 2025 – Rotterdam is introducing 28 measures to tackle nuisance caused by antisocial drivers across the city. The new Rotterdamse Verkeersaso Aanpak (RVA) is intended to reduce speeding, noise and aggressive driving in residential streets and busy nightlife areas alike.
The Rotterdamse Verkeersaso Aanpak (RVA) brings together a wide set of tools that can be used both citywide and in specific neighbourhoods. The measures are aimed at drivers who speed, accelerate loudly, make unnecessary noise or display other antisocial behaviour on the road.
Decisions on which measures to apply in a particular area will be taken in consultation with neighbourhood councils, municipal enforcement officers, the police and the Public Prosecution Service. This should allow Rotterdam to respond more precisely to local issues, rather than relying only on short, one-off campaigns.
Citywide approach to antisocial driving
The municipality notes that nuisance from antisocial drivers (‘verkeersaso’s’) no longer occurs only in a few known hotspots, but appears in many parts of the city. After earlier, area-specific interventions, the RVA is designed as a broader framework that can be deployed wherever problems arise.
The package includes measures that can be applied quickly, such as targeted enforcement or temporary lane closures, as well as more structural changes to street design. Together, these steps aim to make it less attractive and less possible to drive too fast or behave loudly in places where people live, shop or go out.
More than closing streets
A previous experiment with the “Groene Oase” on the Meent (Groene Oase op De Meent) turned a busy street into a quieter area for residents, entrepreneurs and visitors. At the same time, it created accessibility issues for some businesses. For alderman Pascal Lansink-Bastemeijer, responsible for mobility, that experience showed that simply closing streets or districts is not enough.
Instead, Rotterdam is looking at a mix of measures, including more enforcement, different road layouts and alternative use of lanes. The municipality also wants to gain a better understanding of who is causing the nuisance and to address problems at their source, for example by talking to specific groups of drivers or owners.
Designing streets for normal use
Many streets in Rotterdam are designed to carry large volumes of traffic as smoothly as possible. When it is quiet, these roads can become attractive routes for drivers who want to accelerate or race. The RVA therefore proposes temporarily closing one or more lanes at off-peak times, so that people who drive normally are not affected, while there is less space for speeding.
A dedicated team of municipal enforcement officers will be set up to focus on nuisance caused by traffic. This team will actively pursue offenders in order to raise the chance of being caught. In some areas, this can be combined with automatic enforcement at access points using ANPR cameras, to prevent nuisance simply shifting from one street to another.
Cameras, warnings and fines
Rotterdam will continue discussions with the Public Prosecution Service to gain more influence on both the number and the locations of fixed and mobile speed cameras. The municipality wants more say in where these cameras are placed, so they can be used where residents report structural nuisance.
In addition to traditional speed cameras, the city also wants to introduce warning poles. These devices would register violations and show a warning directly to the driver. In some cases, they could also trigger a warning letter to the home address, with the aim of prompting behavioural change before fines or other sanctions are needed.
Reporting nuisance through meldr app
The Rotterdamse Verkeersaso Aanpak is explicitly intended to protect residents who drive and live normally, and who are often the ones experiencing nuisance from others. Their reports are therefore an important source of information for the municipality.
In the MeldR app (MeldR app), a new complaint category has been added under ‘Vehicles’: ‘Overlast verkeersgedrag’ (nuisance traffic behaviour). Rotterdammers who are bothered by loud, fast or aggressive driving can use this option to file a report. These reports are then used to decide where and how the 28 RVA measures are deployed, so enforcement and interventions can be targeted where they are needed most.
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