A year after the speed limit on the entire Brussels Ring Road was lowered from 120 km/h to 100 km/h to reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality, over 26,000 speeding tickets were issued.
From 1 September 2020, when the speed was initially reduced, to 31 December 2020, 11,240 of the 257,154 drivers checked (4.37%) were fined for speeding.
In the first eight months of 2021, 311,340 cars were checked for speed, of which 15,240 (4.9%) were also fined for driving too fast.
"We have noticed that, since the reduction of the maximum permitted speed, the number of speeding offences has risen from an average of 3.5% (when it was 120 km/h) to 4.9% (since the speed limit was reduced to 100 km/h)," Jana Verdegem of the federal police told Het Nieuwsblad.
In the first eight months of 2020 - that is, before the speed limit was lowered to 100 km/h - "only" 6,954 cars were caught speeding, out of more than 200,000 vehicles checked (3.47%).
However, the speed reduction was announced long enough in advance, and along the Ring itself, drivers are reminded of it with signs in many places, according to the federal police.
"The Federal Road Police Brabant continues to carry out extra checks there," Verdegem said, adding that it is necessary to raise people's awareness and to create a lasting change in behaviour as quickly as possible.
"That way, the speed reduction achieves its desired objective, namely a reduction in CO2 emissions but also, of course, smoother and safer traffic on the Ring Road," she said.
The Brussels Times
