The Belgian Government will no longer introduce points-based driving licences, despite it having commissioned a study into its benefits shortly after coming into power.
Coalition partners in the Federal Government are now at loggerheads over the plan. The Flemish centre-left MP Joris Vandenbroucke (Vooruit), accused his French-speaking coalition partners, the Socialist Party (PS) and the liberals MR, of blocking a measure which would have put points-based driving licences in place.
“People are dying on the roads because PS and MR refuse to take measures to improve road safety,” Vandenbroucke said on Radio 1’s programme De Ochtend. The MP went on to claim that “there are 500 deaths and 55,000 injuries every year in our country” which he says could be avoided with points-based driving licences.
Translation of tweet: "People die in traffic because PS and MR think they will lose voters if they introduce a points-based driving license. However, their voters also want their child to get home safely."
The penalty points system would result in a set amount of points being deducted from a driver's licence. When a driver runs out of points on their licence, their case is automatically forwarded to the courts.
The government had initially promised to study the possibility of introducing these licences when the current coalition came to fruition in late 2020. The road safety institute VIAS conducted the study on the government’s behalf and concluded its research by recommending Belgian authorities put these points-based driving licences in place.
However, as Vandenbroucke claimed, PS and MR were the only two parties to block a measure introducing these licences in Belgium, which Vandenbroucke claims are due to them “being afraid of losing voters.”
Mobility has become a hot-button issue in Belgian politics recently with the regional Good Move traffic plan, which aims to leave more place cyclists in Brussels, attracting mass protests from road users.
Instead, the French-speaking parties want to put a counter-proposal on the Federal Government’s table.
Their plan would include creating a database of repeat offenders, boosting the likelihood of speeders getting caught, raising awareness among road users, and raising current traffic penalties.
