As part of the national “distracted driving operation”, Brussels police have launched a crackdown on drivers who use their phones while driving.
On 12 February, the motorcycle patrol of the Bruxelles Capital/Ixelles police zone conducted checks across the capital to look for distracted drivers, especially those using their phone behind the wheel.
In total, officers handed out 347 fines to motorists for using their mobile phones while driving. 34 warnings were issued for other offences.
As many residents of the capital will know, the use of phones by motorists is prevalent across Belgium. In Brussels, 16% of residents even admitted to watching videos on their phones while on the roads.
Credit: PolBru/X
A recent survey found that almost eight in ten French-speaking drivers admitted to regularly using their mobile phones while driving. Over half of all drivers surveyed reported having an unreasonable addiction to their mobile device, feeling the need to be reachable by phone at all times, and a third found it difficult to wait an hour without checking their messages or surfing the internet.
In 2024, 936 motorists in Dutch-speaking West Flanders were caught using their phones and had their driver's license suspended.
