The speeding ticket migrates to the smartphone: Moosburg police will be using digital traffic tickets in the future

Created: 01/19/2022, 12:00 p.m

Old and new side by side: Moosburg's chief of police, Christian Bidinger, presents the notification card with the QR code (right), which his officers are increasingly distributing instead of the outdated speeding tickets (left).

© Forster

Moosburg's police now distribute speeding tickets in digital form.

The PI boss explains how it works, what advantages it has and what people do without the Internet.

Moosburg

– Parked in a no-parking area or strapped in too late: anyone who commits traffic offenses like this and is caught by the police has been given a hand-written slip of paper and a transfer slip on the windshield wiper or handed it out in person.

However, this form of warning with a payment request will soon be used less and less by law enforcement officers.

Instead, in an increasing number of cases, police officers are handing out a pre-printed card with a QR code and a login code.

Christian Bidinger, head of the Moosburg police inspection, explains the details.

How does the new digital ticket system work?

If the officers detect a traffic violation, in future they will no longer use a pen and pad of speeding tickets, but rather pull out their service smartphone. "More and more of our colleagues are equipped with it, currently around 40 percent are using it," says Bidinger. In an app called "mOwi", they then enter all relevant data about the traffic offender: location and time, details about the vehicle or the person, but also photographic evidence and scans of ID documents can be stored virtually.

So that the accused is also informed, the patrol crew leaves or hands over a notification card: It contains a QR code that can be scanned directly with a smartphone.

A login number on the card serves as identification for the respective case - and is saved by the police in their app as a case number.

If you don't have a smartphone to scan the code, you can get all the details about your warning from the internet address that's also on the card.

What do I do if I don't have internet?

"People who don't have access to the internet can get all the information they need from us at the office," says Christian Bidinger.

You can call Tel. (08761) 30180 or appear in person at the Moosburger Wache at Poststrasse 6.

Anyone who has scanned the code or followed the Internet address and entered their login number can first take a look online to see exactly what offense they are being accused of.

Then there is the possibility of calling up a virtual transfer form and thus transferring the warning money via online banking.

The use of mobile payment services such as PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay directly on the cell phone is not yet planned.

In the event that the notification card has disappeared from the car before the accused discovers it, it works as before: the traffic offender receives a corresponding notice from the good old post office.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

For the time being, the digitization of the speeding tickets only affects those warnings that are issued directly by the police - but not the traffic tickets that the respective municipal traffic monitoring agency distributes.

What are the advantages of the system for the police?

Previously, the traffic tickets that were created by the officials on the street had to be recorded again manually in the office.

This step will be saved in the future: The administrative offense ends up directly in the system via the “mOwi” app.

The management of evidence photos or document scans is also made easier.

The new version of the ticket was tested in advance by the Munich police in a pilot project before departments like Moosburg jumped on.

According to the Moosburg inspection, the first feedback from the officials was consistently positive: "They are quite enthusiastic." However, the enthusiasm of the road users who have been warned about a speeding ticket should not change, even if it is now more up-to-date.

Explainer video

More information about the speeding ticket reform and an explanatory video are available online at www.info-bussgeld.polizei.bayern.de under the headings “FAQ” and “Help” (you can find them at the bottom of the page).