Buses and trams operated by Flemish transport company De Lijn were involved in 7,207 and 1,191 accidents respectively last year, up from 5,987 and 1,123 in 2022, according to figures released on Tuesday in the Flemish parliament by legislator An Christiaens (CD&V).
However, the data shows that De Lijn was held responsible in only 2.5% of bus accidents and 2% of tram accidents in 2024.
The number of victims was also higher. Each Flemish province except Antwerp reported one bus fatality in 2024, giving a total of four. In comparison, there were two such fatalities in 2022 and one in 2023.
Additionally, 1,179 people were injured in bus accidents last year, up from 1,030 in 2023 and 1,066 in 2022.
The types of accidents varied widely: in addition to collisions with other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians, there were also incidents like aggression, fires, falling passengers, and even desperate acts.
Christiaens concluded from the figures that improvements can still be made in both driver training and traffic education for other road users. She also cautioned against the introduction of flexible jobs at De Lijn, highlighting that “one out of eight job applicants fails the selection tests.”
The ACV-Public Service trade union noted that De Lijn’s trams and buses travel 205 million kilometres annually. It argued that, given the conditions under which the drivers work, the accident figures are relatively low.
The union also pointed out that the drivers’ experience and professionalism help prevent more accidents than they cause. It criticised the unfair portrayal of drivers as reckless, insisting that if this were true, many more accidents would be officially recorded daily.
