42,000 speed demons will not be fined

21 November 2008

The 42,000 times that the speed limit was exceeded last month in the Reyers Tunnel (in the Brussels neighbourhood of Schaarbeek) was registered but not with the aim of writing out fines. The cars were registered for speeding simply to count the numbers.

Brussels Traffic Minister Pascal Smet (Flemish socialist) released the figures regarding speed controls in the Brussels Reyers Tunnel Wednesday evening. Some 42,000 violations were registered at the end of the tunnel, heading out of Brussels on the E40 motorway towards Leuven and Liege.

The speed demons were registered driving too fast, but they will not receive speeding tickets. The cars were counted but no photographs were taken of license plates. This has been confirmed by Smet’s spokesperson.

The news of the large-scale speed checks last month led to intense discussion between the Brussels traffic minister and federal Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen (Flemish Christian democrat). It is not certain what will happen with the information that has been gathered. Sending out 42,000 speeding tickets in such a short space of time would be impossible, says Minister Vandeurzen.

(flandersnews.be/Expatica 2008)

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