BRUSSELS – Ten times more speed fines have been recorded after the installation of new automatic radars on many of Belgium’s roads.

The radars are a centrepiece of the new zero tolerance policy against speeding.

At the start of the year, a decree by prosecutors fiscal entered into force that cracks down on leniency towards speeding offences.

The decree means that minor offences that would previously have been overlooked by police officers are now subject to fines.

Police officers are now having to reschedule their work as mountains of fines are building up in their in-trays.

Some forces, including the federal transport police in West Flanders, are recording ten times more speeding fines than before.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news