The percentage of drivers caught speeding during last Wednesday's nationwide police checks has fallen by 50% since the last checks in April. However, this was likely due to the wintery weather conditions and fixed checkpoints in place.
Belgian police organised the 21st edition of its 'speed camera marathon' on Wednesday 20 November. From 06:00 in the morning and for 24 hours, over 100 local police zones and the Federal Police carried out intensive speed checks on motorways and secondary roads. 3% of drivers did not obey the speed limit on this day, the Federal Police confirmed.
"Federal road police and 117 local police zones together checked 1,044,882 drivers," a police statement noted. The police checked drivers' speed at 727 locations. A total of 56 driving licences were also revoked in the process.
Excessive speed remains one of the main causes of road accidents in Belgium, alongside drink-driving and using a mobile phone behind the wheel. One in three fatal road accidents is due to inappropriate or excessive speed, according to road traffic institute Vias.
Positive trend?
During the last nationwide checks in April, around 6% of drivers were speeding and 145 licences were revoked. In November last year, a record-breaking 6.2% of drivers were speeding. "There has therefore been a decrease. These results are encouraging and show a positive trend," the police stated.
However, roads across Belgium were icy most of Wednesday and covered by snow later in the day, meaning drivers likely adjusted their speed without taking into account the speed checks. This also resulted in more traffic jams.
"It is certainly possible that weather conditions and traffic jams had an impact on the results," Federal Police spokesperson Jana Verdegem told The Brussels Times. "However, it is impossible to determine exactly to what extent."
Verdegem added that another key reason was the increased use of fixed checkpoint cameras by the participating police forces compared to previous editions. "People often know where these fixed speed cameras are, and they know they will be checked in these places, so they drive slower. This is also reflected in the figures."
