Belgians driving more slowly

24 May 2005

BRUSSELS – The number of Belgian drivers being caught by automatic speed cameras has more than halved, it was revealed on Tuesday.

Speed checks on the motorways have also caught 30 percent fewer speeders.

Mobility Minister Renaat Landuyt revealed the 2004 police figures after a parliamentary question.

They seem to show Belgians are driving more slowly, especially since the fall in speeding offences coincides with an increase in speed radar checks.

Most of the speed controls were carried out by the federal police’s mobile radars, the Multanova, which last year checked the speed of 26.2 million vehicles over a period of 31,363 hours.

The checks found scarcely 1 percent of drivers were speeding – a total of 280,803 drivers who were given a warning or an on-the-spot fine.

Just a year before, the mobile radars were used for fewer hours – 30,597 – but they found as many as 400,773 drivers failing to respect the legal limits, some 30 percent more.

In 2004, automatic cameras snapped 51 percent less, down from 67,972 vehicles to 33,329. The number of checks last year were slightly fewer, 111,000 compared to 118,000 in 2003.

The police figures also showed the type of vehicles flashed by speed cameras. Some 68 ambulances were among those recorded, 39 break-down trucks, six tractors and even 25 hearses.

Only a court can cancel an ambulance fine, if evidence is produced that the vehicle was on the way to an emergency.

Subject: Belgian news