As of 20 September, 70,836 cars have been caught speeding in the restricted driving zone (RDZ) in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles this year – meaning there is a risk that a new record will be set in 2022 despite the fact that the zone has already been in existence for four years.
The Chaussée d'Ixelles and its ancillary roads have become an RDZ: turning it into a pedestrian zone every day from 07:00 to 19:00. To ensure that this ban on motorists passing through the area is respected, cameras have been installed to catch all offenders. Still, four years after the introduction of the fines, the number of offenders has not fallen but has in fact increased, reported Sud Presse on Monday.
"For 2022, 70,836 cars were already recorded as having been caught on 20 September," said the official responsible for the fines in Brussels, Sanctioning Official Bertrand de Buisseret. "A figure that has not fallen, even though the RDZ has been in place for four years."
In comparison, 90,000 offences were recorded for the whole of 2021 and 87,000 in 2019, before the lockdowns and other Covid-19 restrictions.
The number of people contesting the administrative penalty of €58 is also likely to increase. "We had received 6,800 challenges in 2021 of the 90,000 recorded offences. And we have already exceeded 5,000 for this year. It should be noted, however, that the number of complaints in 2021 was lower than in 2019."
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"Many people are careless. But after more than three years, the regional administration of Brussels Finance started to call in bailiffs. We started by sending them to those who sometimes have 25 to 30 offences. If half of the offenders pay on time, Ixelles still has to recover 30% to 40% of the amounts due."
Yves Rouyet, city councillor for Mobility in Ixelles, puts things into perspective. "We went to see Mechelen and Ghent. And they explained to us that even after years, there is still 1% of the traffic that passes through the RDZ in violation."
He announced that the extension of the RDZ to Rue Keyenveld, which was announced last year, is now scheduled.
"The decision has been made and approved by the council. It will be done in the spring of 2023," said Rouyet. "This is logical because this street, which is very old, is the street that most closely resembles an RDZ, so much so that in our jargon, we regularly talk about the 'keynenveldisation' of a street."