A record number of speeding tickets were handed out in the first half of 2022 in Belgium. The largest proportion of drivers were caught in Flanders, explained by the differences in section controls.
In the first six months of last year, more than 3 million drivers were caught speeding in Belgium, according to an analysis of federal police figures by De Tijd. This total is one-third more than in the same period in the previous year, and more than double compared to the number of fines recorded five years ago.
Most people that were fined for speeding were driving less than 10 kilometres per hour above the maximum permitted speed.
The figures recorded last year were higher compared to 2020 and 2021, as during these two years, the successive lockdowns and other Covid-19 measures temporarily put an end to social events, measures that were largely dropped in 2022.
However, the rise in the number of fines dealt to drivers by the police is not so much a result of more people violating the law, but rather due to the increased chance of being caught.
Long road ahead
This approach is part of Belgium's 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 320 road deaths was set for 2030.
However, in 2021, that limit was surpassed, and by April of last year, a total of 111 people had already died in road accidents. To reach this target by the set deadline, the government vowed to activate more speed cameras and carry out more checks. At the end of 2021, Belgian police already noted it was expecting the number of fines it issued to soar as more and more speed cameras become operational.
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This also explains why the number of speeding tickets was significantly higher in Flanders than in the rest of Belgium. The Dutch-speaking region accounts for more than eight out of 10 active section controls in our country. By comparison, barely 25 section controls are active in Wallonia.
Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne added that this approach would also result in "light traffic offences" — speeding offences whereby the offender was driving less than 160 km/h on the motorway and drink-driving with an alcohol level of between 0.5 and 0.8 per mile, for example — being more heavily punished.
