Brussels’ Minister in charge of Road Safety, Elke Van den Brandt, asks motorists driving in Brussels not to exceed 30 km/hour.
The rule already applies to traffic within the small ring road. Still, due to current coronavirus measures, there is much less traffic on the roads of the capital, and some drivers are taking advantage by driving too fast.
According to Elke Van den Brandt, there has been a decrease of more than 95% in traffic this week in Brussels. “This is excellent news, as it shows that Brussels residents are complying well with the containment measures and that they are showing their solidarity,” Van den Brandt told La Dernière Heure.
“But all over, we are hearing reports that because the streets are less crowded, drivers tend to drive faster. This must absolutely be avoided because, as we know, speed greatly increases the risk of accidents, especially serious accidents, and many pedestrians walk on the road because they cannot respect the social distance of two meters on the pavements.”
Up to 152 km/hour
Between 17 and 29 March, the Brussels-Capital-Ixelles police checked 25,251 vehicles of which 1,128 were speeding New Mobility reports. This represents an infringement rate of 4,4 %, which is far higher than the rates observed during normal operations.
In some tunnels, speeds up to 109 km/hour were recorded. On the Rue Royale, a car was flashed at 138 km/hour in the middle of the afternoon, at a place where the speed limit is 50 km/hour. Or 138 km/hour at avenue Franklin Roosevelt. A motorbike flashed at 152 km/hour at Avenue de Vilvoorde (limited to 70 km/h).
The Brussels minister, pleads for drivers to be “especially careful, to drive slowly, and not to exceed 30 km/hour everywhere in Brussels. Our hospitals don’t need to treat traffic victims at the moment. Respecting speed limits is also a way of showing solidarity.”
The Brussels Times
