Brussels parliamentarian Els Rochette (One.Brussels-Vooruit) has denounced the lack of cooperation between Brussels municipalities and police zones in the fight against urban rodeos.
In Brussels West police zone, between 9 and 26 offences related to illegal urban racing have been recorded each year since 2019.
In Brussels North, 299 cases of inappropriate speed were recorded in 2021, as well as 23 cases of dangerous driving. A year later, there were 268 and 39 cases respectively.
The Brussels-Ixelles zone seized 39 vehicles administratively and 9 judicially in 2020, followed by 31 and 5 in 2021. The Montgomery police zone did not identify any offences of this type.
Rochette said there was a clear lack of determination to tackle the problem and insufficient cooperation.
“Each area has its own counting method. That makes any analysis at the regional level impossible,” she noted.”There is no cooperation between the police zones and the municipalities. Regional coordination is also virtually non-existent.”
Since the problem was raised a year ago in the Brussels Parliament, nothing has changed, the legislator complained. She urged the Region to intervene.
Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) stressed that the coordination of police zones did not fall within her remit. She also highlighted the regional government’s “historic” efforts to “catch up” in terms of road safety.
These included speed limits of 30 km/hr in cities, elimination of black spots, doubling of staff to process fines, new speed cameras and the addition of new roadside checks.
Other measures cited by the minister included the sharp rise in subsidies granted to municipalities and police zones for road safety actions.
