Over the past 50 years, 80,000 people have died in road accidents in Belgium. Progress was made since the highest number of road deaths was recorded, but the country remains far off from its target of zero road deaths by 2050.
In 1972, 3,101 people lost their lives on Belgian roads, the country's highest number of road deaths ever recorded. Since then, roughly the entire population of the Limburg city of Hasselt has died in a traffic accident.
On Sunday, the "International Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims," Vias traffic safety institute and the non-profit Parents of Perished Children (OVK) symbolically unveiled a carpet in Hasselt, bearing the names of all those victims.
More than 3.4 million have been injured in road accidents, in many cases with life-changing injuries. "For instance, 80% of all people who are seriously injured in road accidents never fully recover," Vias noted.
Credit: Belga / Robert Dekock
The annual number of deaths has progressively dropped every year in the past five decades after new road safety measures were implemented to stop the number of fatal accidents, such as a permanent speed limit of 120 km/h on motorways and 90 km/h on other roads.
Improvement, but positive evolution dwindling
In 1984, the number dropped below 2,000 deaths for the first time. In 2008, the number fell below 1,000. In 2019, 644 people died on our roads, while last year, this figure was 516 last year. However, figures published by Vias regarding the number of deaths this year predict a rise by the end of this year.
Already by April of this year, a total of 111 people died in traffic accidents, 50% more than in the same period last year. From January to October, 326 people died instantly in a traffic accident – a 16% rise compared to the same period last year, with the most worrying trend recorded among the number of bicycle fatalities.
During the States General of Road Safety exactly one year ago, Belgium's various mobility ministers introduced the first inter-federal plan for traffic safety, titled "All for Zero," including 32 measures to help the country reach "the only humanly acceptable target of zero road deaths by 2050."
An interim target of not going above than 320 road deaths was set for 2030. However, both last year and this year that limit is set to be surpassed. "In short, there is still a long way to go," Vias noted.
"These figures are eye-opening and the trend is worrying. We are receiving all sorts of signals that things are going in the wrong direction and we must prevent politicians and society from resigning to this," said Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters.
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She recognised that, despite the fact that Flanders also introduced its own new Road Safety Plan through which it invests in safe infrastructure, installs section controls, and raises awareness, there is no positive evolution in the accident figures.
"We are permanently monitoring our plan and will make adjustments where necessary and want to focus mainly on behaviour," she said, adding that the chances of being caught need to increase too. "Not to bully people, but to send a clear signal that reckless and irresponsible driving behaviour takes human lives."
